Wayne State 75 Concordia-St. Paul 70

            Thanks to career-high nights from junior guard Lauren Zacharias and junior forward Kassidy Pingel, the Wayne State College women's basketball team rallied in the fourth quarter for a 75-70 NSIC South Division victory over Concordia-St. Paul Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  WSC is now 6-2 and 3-1 in the NSIC South while CSP is 6-2 and 2-2 in league play.
            The tightly contested game featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes between the two clubs.
            The first quarter saw WSC lead most of the way, holding a four-point lead at 13-9, before the visiting Golden Bears surged late to take a 16-15 lead.
            Wayne State's biggest lead of the second quarter was three at 25-22, but CSP used a 14-2 run late in the second quarter to build an eight point lead at 36-28 with 1:40 to play in the half.
            The 'Cats scored the final six points of the quarter and cut the Golden Bear advantage to two at intermission 36-34.
            Wayne State held the lead just once in the third quarter, 38-37 on a pair of Kassidy Pingel free throws with 7:43 to go in the third.
            CSP built a seven point lead at 50-43 with 3:28 to go third quarter before closing with a 54-51 lead entering the fourth stanza.
            The Golden Bears held the lead for most of the fourth quarter, but a Wildcat rally in the final four minutes carried WSC to the win.
            Concordia-St. Paul was in front 61-53 at the 7:11 mark and still led 64-58 with 4:49 remaining when the Wildcats started their rally.
            Two free throws from Lauren Zacharias, a 3-pointer by Abby Kopecky and a Pingel basket in just 1:27 gave WSC a 65-64 lead.
            The two teams traded several leads, but with CSP leading 69-67 with 1:46 to play the Wildcats took the lead for good on a Zacharias 3-pointer to make it 70-69. 
            WSC then sealed the win in the final 30 seconds, going 5 of 6 at the foul stripe as Zacharias went 3-4 and Pingel 2-2 giving the Wildcats a thrilling 75-70 win.
            Zacharias paced WSC with a career-high 22 points, 15 coming in the second half.  She also grabbed a career-best eight rebounds.  Pingel also produced a career-high with 18 points, including a perfect 7-7 at the stripe.  Wayne senior guard Kylie Hammer also hit double digits with 16.
            Wayne State made 22 of 54 shots from the field for 40.7 percent, including 7 of 22 behind the arc.  The 'Cats were a season-best 24 of 28 at the foul line for 85.7 percent.
            Concordia-St. Paul's top scorer was Jadyn Hanson with 19 points.  Lindsey Becher chipped in 12 followed by Meghan DuBois and Riley Wheatcraft with 11 apiece.
            The Golden Bears were 23 of 63 from the field for 36.5 percent, going 7 for 24 from 3-point range, and 17 of 26 at the free throw line.
            CSP held a slim 38-36 edge in rebounding over the Wildcats.  Pingel had nine boards for WSC with Zacharias hauling in eight.
            The Wildcats will be home again Saturday night hosting Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.