St. Cloud State took advantage of four Wayne State turnovers in the final two minutes as the Huskies held off the Wildcats 65-61 in a Northern Sun Conference women's basketball cross division contest played in St. Cloud, Minnesota Saturday evening.  The host Huskies are now 15-5 and 12-4 in the NSIC with WSC sitting at 10-10 and 6-10 in the NSIC South Division.
            The 'Cats got off to a slow start, trailing 8-1 to start the game.  WSC was down seven again later in the quarter at 18-11 but finished the first quarter trailing 18-15.
            WSC was still down six early in the second quarter when the 'Cats forged the first tie of the game at 25-25 following a Maya Fitzpatrick layup with 5:11 to play in the half.
            The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 28-27 on an Ashley Gustavson 3-pointer at the 4:03 mark and scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 35-29 lead at intermission thanks to 53 percent shooting (8-15) in the second quarter.
            Wayne State came out strong to start the third quarter, scoring the first six points to take a 41-29 lead at the 8:22 mark on a Rachel Dahlen offensive rebound and putback.
            WSC was still in front 45-39 with three minutes to play in the quarter until SCSU closed the quarter with the final six points to tie the score at 45-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
            The fourth quarter went back and forth between the two clubs with six ties and five lead changes, but SCSU closed the game forcing four straight turnovers on WSC while making a pair of key three point plays to edge the 'Cats.
            Neither team held a leadoff more than three points until the closing seconds.
            A 3-pointer by Lauren Zacharias gave WSC their final lead of the game at 61-59 with 2:17 remaining.
            The two teams traded turnovers followed by a 3-pointer by the Huskies to take a 62-61 advantage with 1:13 to play.
            Another WSC turnover led to a three-point play by St. Cloud State with 32 seconds to play for a 65-61 lead.
            The 'Cats then had two more turnovers to close the game as the Huskies held on for the win.
            Fitzpatrick poured in a career-high 16 points to lead WSC in scoring while Zacharias also scored 16.
            Wayne State made 23 of 53 shots for 43.4 percent, going 4 of 14 from the 3-point line and 11 for 15 at the free throw line.
            Katrina Theis and Jada Eggebrecht each scored 16 points for St. Cloud State.  The Huskies shot 43.1 percent making 22 of 51 shots, going 8 for 19 from the 3-point line and 13 of 22 at the charity stripe.
            SCSU held a 40-26 edge in rebounding and had 16 offensive rebounds.  Kylah vanDonkersgoed led WSC on the glass with four caroms.
            St. Cloud State had 25 turnovers to 20 for WSC.  Zacharias had four assists for WSC while Fitzpatrick recorded four steals.
            Wayne State is on the road again next weekend visiting Upper Iowa Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Winona State Saturday at 5:30 p.m.