Wayne State saw three players reach double figures in posting a 73-64 win at Chadron State Saturday afternoon in the women's college basketball opener for both teams.
            Both teams got off to a slow start, each scoring only two points in the opening five minutes of the game.  WSC then scored nine straight points on their way to ending the first quarter with a 15-9 lead.
            WSC held the lead the entire second quarter.  After Chadron State got within three at 17-14, the Wildcats pushed the lead to eight at 27-19 following a pair of Maya Fitzpatrick free throws before closing the half with a 31-24 advantage.
            The Wildcats took their first double digit lead of the game midway through the third quarter at 45-35 following an Abby Kopecky jumper.  WSC closed the quarter on an 11-2 scoring run and held a 56-40 lead after three quarters.
            A Delaney Clark basket at the 9:07 mark of the fourth quarter gave Wayne State its biggest lead of the game at 60-42.
            Wayne State still held a 17-point lead at 65-48 with seven minutes to play, but the host Eagles charged back and got within six at 68-62 with 1:27 to play.
            The Wildcats then made three out of four free throws and got a clinching basket by Meg Rietz to go back up 11 at 73-62 before finishing with a 73-64 win.
            Senior Tate Norblade paced a balanced Wildcat scoring attack with 14 points.  Kylah vanDonkersgoed and Carsyn Boswell each finished with 10.
            The Wildcats made 26 of 65 shots from the field for 40 percent.  The 'Cats were 5 of 14 behind the arc and 16 for 24 at the free throw line.
            Camren Morris scored a game-high 16 points for Chadron State with Allison Richards adding 10.
            Chadron State shot 45 percent from the field making 23 of 51 shots, including 7 for 17 from the 3-point line.  The Eagles were 11 of 15 at the stripe.
            The Eagles held a 40-32 edge in rebounding on the 'Cats, but WSC had 14 offensive rebounds that resulted in a 15-2 second chance points advantage over the Eagles.  WSC also forced 27 turnovers on Chadron State to just 12 on the Wildcats, giving WSC a 19-11 edge in points off turnovers.
            Fitzpatrick led WSC in rebounds with five.  Norblade recorded a team-high five assists while Fitzpatrick was credited with three blocked shots.
            The next game for the Wildcats is Wednesday evening, November 13^th with a non-conference game at Emporia State in Kansas starting at 7 p.m.