Despite a career-matching 21 points from junior forward Kylah vanDonkersgoed, a fourth quarter rally by Wayne State fell just short as host Minnesota Duluth defeated the Wildcats 62-56 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball Saturday afternoon in Duluth, Minnesota.  UMD is now 4-6 and 2-3 in the league while WSC drops to 4-5 and 1-4 in NSIC contests.
            Wayne State never led in the game.  There were three ties in the opening quarter with the final one coming at 8-8 followed a free throw from Brooklyn Kruse with 5:45 to play in the first quarter. 
            After UMD pushed the lead to six at 14-8, WSC pulled within three at 17-14 on a Tate Norblade basket with 1:17 to go in the quarter.  But the Bulldogs scored the final five points of the quarter for a 22-14 advantage.
            The second quarter saw UMD build several nine points leads with WSC outscoring the Bulldogs 13-10 to cut the Minnesota Duluth lead to five at halftime 32-27.
            UMD was in front 30-21 with 3:14 left in the half, but a layup from Kylah vanDonkersgoed and back-to-back layups by Maya Fitzpatrick cut the Bulldog advantage to five at intermission (32-27).
            The third quarter saw scoring runs by both teams but a second scoring surge by the host Bulldogs in the final half of the third quarter gave UMD their biggest lead of the game.
            The Bulldogs opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run to go in front 40-29.  WSC responded with seven straight points on a Norblade jumper, Carsyn Boswell 3-pointer and layup by Kruse to cut the UMD advantage to 40-36 with 5:29 to play in the quarter.
            UMD then held WSC scoreless for the next 5:16 while scoring 11 straight points to grab a 51-36 lead until a Boswell trey to end the third quarter made the score 51-39.
            The start of the fourth quarter still saw the Bulldogs lead by double digits until vanDonkersgoed and Boswell got hot from the 3-point line to get the 'Cats within four.  Down 53-42, a Boswell trey followed by back-to-back 3's from vanDonkersgoed cut the UMD lead to 55-51 with 4:46 remaining.
            A third 3-pointer in the quarter by vanDonkersgoed got the 'Cats within two at 56-54 with 4:05 to play.
            But WSC never scored again until the final 14 seconds on a pair of Norblade free throws as UMD built a 62-54 lead by that point to seal the win.
            Wayne State's top scorer was vanDonkersgoed, matching her career-high with 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting from the field.  Norblade also hit double digits with 10 for the Wildcats.
            WSC made 21 of 61 shots from the field for 34.4 percent, going 5 of 23 behind the arc while sinking 9 of 15 free throws.
            Johnanna Miller paced Minnesota Duluth with 19 points followed by Claire Bjorge with 16 points and Myra Moorjani finished with 11.
            UMD shot 43.6 percent from the field making 24 of 55.  The Bulldogs were 5 for 12 behind the arc and 9 of 13 at the free throw line.
            The Bulldogs won the rebounding battle over WSC 45-32 with Norblade and vanDonkersgoed each hauling in five boards for the 'Cats.  Meg Rietz had three assists and two steals.
            The Wildcats will be on the road again Thursday evening visiting the University of Sioux Falls at 5:30 p.m.