Wayne State outscored Winona State 22-9 in the fourth quarter, coming back from a 15-point deficit late third quarter, as the Wildcats downed the Warriors 60-56 Saturday evening in an NSIC South Division women's basketball battle played at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota.  WSC is now 11-11 overall and 7-11 in NSIC games while Winona State falls to 10-14 and 4-14 in league play.
            The first quarter saw WSC hold the lead or be tied with Winona State for all but 15 seconds as the Wildcats held a 16-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
            Tied at 9-9 with 3:58 to go in the first quarter, WSC used a Maya Fitzpatrick 3-pointer, a pair of Logan Hughes free throws and a Lauren Zacharias basket to end the quarter to grab a four point lead.
            Annie Guentzel opened the second quarter with a basket giving the 'Cats an 18-12 advantage, but WSC went cold from the field the rest of the quarter and made just one more basket in the quarter. 
            Wayne State's six point lead evaporated as Winona State scored seven straight for a 19-18 lead.  A Kassidy Pingel 3-pointer with 5:27 left in the half cut the Warrior lead to 25-22.
            But WSC never made a basket the remainder of the second quarter and Winona State closed with a 29-23 lead at halftime.
            Winona State opened the third quarter with five straight points for a 34-23 lead.  The Warriors held a pair of 15-point advantages in the quarter and was in front 47-32 when WSC ended the quarter with baskets from Guentzel and Kylah vanDonkersgoed along with a pair of free throws to make the score 47-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
            Wayne State opened the fourth quarter making 6 of 9 to open the quarter and the Wildcats rallied to tie the score at the midway point of the quarter.
            Back-to-back baskets from Guentzel followed by a pair of 3's from Lauren Zacharias and a layup by Abby Kopecky got WSC within two at 52-50.
            A layup from vanDonkersgoed at the 5:12 mark tied the score at 52-52.
            WSC got a free throw from Guentzel followed by a pair of technical free throws from Zacharias to give WSC a 55-54 lead with 3:58 to play.
            After Winona State regained the lead at 56-55 with 2:32 remaining, Fitzpatrick gave WSC the lead for good with a layup on the next possession for a 57-56 advantage.
            Zacharias made two free throws with 32 seconds left and vanDonkersgoed went 1 of 2 with seven seconds to play to cap the 60-56 comeback win.
            Wayne State shot 36.8 percent from the field making 21 of 57 shots, but hit 7 of 12 (58%) in the final quarter.  The 'Cats were 6 for 21 behind the arc and 12 for 16 at the charity stripe.
            Zacharias ended with 17 points for the Wildcats.  vanDonkersgoed matched a season-high scoring 11 with nine coming in the second half.
            Winona State was led by Lauren Fech's 27 points.  The Warriors were 18 of 48 shooting for 37.5 percent, going 9 of 25 from the 3-point line and 11 for 14 at the line.
            Winona State held a slight 30-28 edge in rebounds with Zacharias hauling in five boards.  She also had three assists.
            WSC will play at home next weekend, hosting #17 Minnesota State Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. matchup in Rice Auditorium.