Minnesota State 93 Wayne State 80
Minnesota State built a 55-37 halftime lead and drained 12 3-pointers to defeat Wayne State College 93-80 in a Northern Sun Conference South Division women's basketball game Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. WSC drops to 16-10 and 11-9 in the league while MSU is 14-10 and 11-9 in NSIC games.
A high scoring first quarter saw Minnesota State hold a 27-23 lead over the Wildcats with junior forward
Erin Norling scoring 14 points for the 'Cats.
Minnesota State continued their torrid offensive pace in the second quarter, going 10-19 from the field and 6 of 9 behind the arc as the Mavericks outscored WSC 28-14 to take a 55-37 lead at intermission. Norling scored eight more points in the quarter and finished the first half with 22 points.
Despite outscoring MSU 27-19 in the third quarter, Wayne State still trailed the entire quarter by double digits and entering the fourth quarter trailing 74-64.
Minnesota State maintained their double figure advantage and ended with a 93-80 win over the Wildcats.
Norling was Wayne State's leading scorer with 26 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the field.
Halley Busse and
Kylie Hammer each reached double figures with 13 points each.
Wayne State ended the game making 27 of 63 shots for 42.9 percent, going 5 of 22 behind the arc. The Wildcats were 21-25 (84%) at the charity stripe.
Joey Batt scored 22 points for Minnesota State followed by Tayla Stuttley with 21. 6-5 sophomore center Kristi Fett contributed 18 points and 14 rebounds.
MSU was 34 of 73 from the field (46.6%) and 12-26 behind the arc for 46.2 percent. The Mavericks made 13-17 free throws.
Minnesota State held a 41-37 edge in rebounding with
Brittany Bongartz grabbing 10 boards for the Wildcats.
Busse finished with five assists for WSC while Norling, Bongartz and
Awoti Akoi each had two blocks.
Wayne State will close out the regular season on the road next weekend visiting Southwest Minnesota State Friday at 5:30 p.m. and #12 Sioux Falls Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
