Senior guard
Maya Fitzpatrick scored a game-high 21 points to lead Wayne State past Nebraska-Kearney 67-57 in non-conference women's basketball Wednesday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. It marked the seventh straight game in the series between the two schools that the home team was victorious. Wayne State is now 2-1 while UNK is 4-2.
UNK opened the game with an early 9-4 lead, but the Wildcats scored eight straight points to grab a 12-9 lead before closing the first quarter with a 12-11 advantage.
Neither team led by more than three points in a tightly contested second quarter with ending with a 25-24 lead at the intermission.
The Lopers took a four-point lead early in the third quarter at 31-27, but Wayne State scored the next eight points on a Fitzpatrick 3-pointer,
Kylah vanDonkersgoed layup and 3-pointer by
Tate Norblade to take a 35-31 lead at the 6:07 mark.
The third quarter ended in a 37-37 tie as Norblade and vanDonkersgoed each had five points for the Wildcats.
Nebraska-Kearney opened up the fourth quarter with a three-point play to take 40-37 lead. A Norblade layup and 3-pointer from vanDonkersgoed gave WSC the lead for good at 42-40.
UNK did battle back to even the score at 49-49 with 2:41 to play, but the Wildcats scored nine straight points in the next 1:55 to grab a 58-49 advantage.
The 'Cats sealed the win making free throws down the stretch, finishing the quarter 15-16 at the line to defeat the Lopers 67-57.
Fitzpatrick's 21 points led the Wildcats while vanDonkersgoed followed with her first career double-double recording 16 points and 10 rebounds. Norblade also hit double figures with 14 points.
Wayne State finished the game shooting 41.2 percent from the field on 21 of 51. The 'Cats made 7 of 16 3-pointers for 43.8 percent and 18 of 21 free throws for 85.7 percent.
Nebraska-Kearney's top scorer was Samantha Moore with 15 followed by Jillian Aschoff with 12.
UNK was 22 of 66 shooting for 33 percent, going 3 of 18 behind the arc and 10 of 16 (62.5%) at the charity stripe.
WSC out-rebounded UNK 43-33 thanks to 10 caroms by vanDonkersgoed. She also had a team-high five assists while Fitzpatrick recorded three blocked shots.
The Wildcats begin Northern Sun Conference play on the road next Tuesday (November 26
th) when the Wildcats visit Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota at 5:30 p.m.