University of Mary 65 Wayne State 60

            Trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, Wayne State College got within one point at 54-53 with 5:26 to play before falling short in a 65-60 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball loss at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota Friday evening.  The host Marauders move to 12-6 and 10-5 in NSIC play while WSC falls to 13-8 and 8-7 in league games.
            The Wildcats never led in the contest.  WSC got down 17-7 with 3:27 to play first quarter and trailed 24-13 after one quarter of play.
            WSC trailed by double digits for most of the second quarter, but trailing 35-21 the Wildcats scored the final five points of the first half to cut the Marauder lead to 35-26 at intermission.
            Mary scored the first four points of the third quarter to push the lead back to double digits and held a 44-30 lead until WSC went on a 10-0 run over the next 2:36 and got within four at 44-40 following a Maggie Lowe 3-pointer with 3:06 to play in the quarter.
            The Wildcats got as close as two at 50-48 near the end of the third quarter on a Haley Vesey 3-pointer.
            WSC closed within one at 54-53 following a Brittany Bongartz three-point play with 5:26 to play, but that's as close as the Wildcats could get.
            Mary pushed the lead back to eight at 64-56 with 1:27 to play and WSC cut the margin to four with 20 seconds left at 64-60 on a Halley Busse free throw before falling 65-60.
            Erin Norling led Wayne State in scoring with 14 points while Bongartz added 11, all coming in the second half.
            Wayne State shot just 30.3 percent from the field, making 20 of 66 shots.  The 'Cats drained just 3 of 17 (17.6%) from the 3-point line and were 17 for 27 at the charity stripe (63%).
            6-2 junior forward Cassie Askvig paced Mary in scoring with 34 points to go with 20 rebounds, the lone Marauder that reached double figures.
            Mary ended the game making 27 of 63 shots for 42.9 percent, including 3 of 16 from the 3-point line.  The Marauders connected on 8 of 16 free throws.
            The Marauders held a commanding 48-34 advantage in rebounding.  Andrea Larson led WSC on the glass with six caroms.
            Halley Busse was credited with four steals for WSC while Maggie Lowe had four assists.  Taylor Wangerin and Bongartz each had two blocked shots.
            The Wildcats will be in action again Saturday afternoon visiting Minot State for a 3:30 p.m. contest.