The Wayne State women's basketball team played host to Chadron State College Thursday evening in Rice Auditorium with the Wildcats taking down the visiting Eagles 87-50. Wayne State improves to 2-0 while Chadron State falls to 0-3 on the season.
            The Eagles took the lead 2-0 less than a minute into the contest, however Wayne State countered with a layup on the next possession to tie the game up. Wayne State took the lead 4-2 and held the lead the rest of the night. Senior point guard Kylie Hammer scored nine of her 16 points in the first quarter to lead WSC scorers. WSC shot 47 percent from the field in the first and went 3-6 from downtown. WSC led after one, 23-8.
            WSC continued its balanced attack and good three-point shooting in the second with junior point guard Lauren Zacharias leading the WSC offense with five points in the frame. The Wildcat defense held the Eagles to just 20 percent shooting in the quarter. Wayne State shot 45 percent in the period and again made half of their three pointers. Wayne State led at halftime 40-18.
            WSC turned on the jets offensively in the third, scoring 31 points as a team. Four 'Cats had at least four points in the period with junior forward Logan Hughes and freshman forward Maya Fitzpatrick each contributing five points while junior forward Kassidy Pingel and Hammer had four points apiece. WSC shot 69 percent from the field in the quarter and 67 percent from three. Wayne State led after three quarters of play, 71-33.
            The 'Cats relied mostly on their bench in the fourth quarter as seven different Wildcats scoring in the period. Wayne State closed out the game on top of Chadron State 87-50.
            As a team WSC shot 51 (29-57) percent from the field while holding Chadron State to 33 percent (18-54). The 'Cats out rebounded the Eagles 42-27 and WSC had seven more assists in the game 15-8. Wayne State had a 10-7 edge in steals while both teams committed 21 turnovers.
            Wayne State scored 30 points in the paint compared to 24 from CSC and each team had 13 second chance points. Each bench scored 31 points in the contest while WSC had a 14-7 advantage in fast break points.
            Hammer went 2-2 from beyond the arc and led the team with 16 points to go along with five rebounds. Zacharias had 12 points and led the team with four assists. Pingel and Hughes each had seven rebounds to lead WSC to go with 11 and seven points, respectively.
            The Wildcats will be at home again Friday evening hosting Black Hills State in a 5:30 p.m. contest.