Wayne State College built a 22-point first half lead then held off a fourth quarter rally by Newman as the Wildcats defeated the Jets 99-90 in the women's college basketball opener for both teams played Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.
            Newman held a pair of early leads at 3-0 and 5-4, then Wayne State scored the six points to take the lead for good at 10-5 while racing out to a 27-14 first quarter lead.
            After the visiting Jets made the first basket of the second quarter, WSC reeled off eight straight points to take their biggest lead of the night at 38-16 with 7:30 to play in the half following an Annie Guentzel fast break basket. 
            Wayne State still held a 21-point lead at 45-24 with 3:58 left in the half until the Jets made a late scoring surge and cut the Wildcat lead to 47-34 at halftime.
            The Wildcats maintained a double figure lead in the third quarter and was still in front by 19 at 66-47 with two minutes to play.  But the Jets outscored WSC 9-1 in the final two minutes and cut the advantage to 11 (67-56) entering the fourth quarter.
            Newman closed the gap to five points numerous times in the fourth quarter, the final time coming at 78-73 with 4:44 remaining.  The 'Cats got a Kassidy Pingel three point play along with a pair of Logan Hughes free throws and a 3-pointer by Zacharias to push the lead back to 11 (86-75) and the 'Cats held off the Jets for the 99-90 win.
            Zacharias led Wayne State in scoring with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting.  Hughes followed with 19 points and Pingel also hit double figures with 12 as 13 Wildcat players scored in the contest.
            Wayne State shot 29 of 66 from the field for 43.9 percent, going 10 of 30 from the 3-point line.  The 'Cats were 31 of 38 for 81.6 percent at the charity stripe.
            Newman's top scorer was Lauren Dubbert with 24 points while Britney Ho poured in 23 and Maddie Spagnola had 18. 
            The Jets shot 49 percent from the field making 26 of 53 shots including 8 for 17 behind the arc.  Newman was 30 of 38 from the charity stripe as the two teams combined for 76 free throws with 60 fouls called in the contest.
            Newman held a slight 32-29 edge in rebounding over WSC thanks to nine boards by Spagnola while Wayne State's top rebounder was Hughes with five.
            Wayne State forced 30 turnovers on Newman, resulting in a 33-16 advantage in points off turnovers.  Maya Fitzpatrick had four steals for WSC while Delaney Clark and Hughes each had three assists.
            The Wildcats will be on the road Wednesday evening playing at Chadron State in a game staring at 6:30 p.m. Central Time.