Southwest Minnesota State used 50 percent shooting to hold off Wayne State College 75-71 Tuesday evening in the Northern Sun Conference women's basketball opener for both teams played at the R/A Facility in Marshall, Minnesota.  The host Mustangs are now 6-0 and 1-0 in the league while WSC drops to 2-2 and 0-1.
            The Wildcats opened the contest with an early 8-3 lead.  But the host Mustangs scored eight straight points to grab an 11-8 advantage at the 3:37 mark of the opening quarter.
            Senior guard Delaney Clark tied the game at 11-11 with a 3-pointer but SMSU closed the first quarter with an 18-15 lead.
            WSC got off to a strong start in the second quarter, using a 12-2 run to grab a 27-22 lead following a Brooklyn Kruse basket with 7:41 left in the half.
            The 'Cats pushed the lead to seven at 32-25 on another Kruse basket at the 4:35 mark.  SMSU used a 9-2 run to even the score at 34-34 with just over two minutes to play in the half.
            Clark's fourth 3-pointer of the opening half tied the score at 39-39 with 53 seconds left and SMSU ended the half with a 41-39 lead at intermission.
            The third quarter saw junior forward Kylah vanDonkersgoed single-handedly give the Wildcats the lead as she scored seven straight points on a pair of layups and 3-pointer to the 'Cats in front 46-43. 
            But SMSU used hot shooting in the quarter (10-15 for 66 percent) to offset the play of vanDonkersgoed, using a 12-2 run to take a pair of nine-point leads in the quarter before closing with a 63-56 lead.
            WSC scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to close within three at 63-60.  But an 8-0 Mustang scoring run gave SMSU their first double-digit lead of the night at 73-62.
            The 'Cats got as close as four in the final 90 seconds and SMSU ended with a 75-71 win.
            Wayne State's top scorer was vanDonkersgoed with 21 points on 10 for 21 shooting.  Maya Fitzpatrick poured in 14 points with Clark adding 12.
            WSC ended the game making 28 of 70 shots for 40 percent, going 5 for 17 from the 3-point line.  The 'Cats hit 10 of 18 free throws in the contest.
            Peyton Blandin scored a game-high 27 points to lead Southwest Minnesota State.  Audrey Swanson chipped in 19 points with Kenzie Jones scoring 14.
            SMSU shot 50 percent from the field on 31 of 62 shots.  The Mustangs hit 2 of 9 3-pointers and 11-13 free throws.
            The Mustangs held a slim 40-38 edge in rebounding on the Wildcats despite seven rebounds by Meg Rietz, who also handed out a team-high five assists for WSC. 
            Wayne State will be in action again Wednesday afternoon hosting William Jewell College in a non-conference contest starting at 4 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.