#16 Minnesota State outscored Wayne State 29-11 in the fourth quarter to break open a close game that featured 10 lead changes and eight ties as the visiting Mavericks defeated the Wildcats 85-68 Friday evening in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  MSU is now 6-2 and 2-0 in the league while WSC is 3-3 and 0-2 in the NSIC.
            The visiting Mavericks jumped out to a pair of early six-point leads in the opening quarter, but thanks to a pair of Delaney Clark 3-pointers and a jumper along with an Abby Kopecky trey to end the quarter WSC trailed by just one point 16-15.
            Carsyn Boswell's jumper at the 7:58 mark of the second quarter gave WSC its only lead of the second quarter at 19-18.  MSU built a pair of five-point leads in the quarter and the Wildcats used a jumper by Clark to close the first half to only trail the Mavericks 34-33 at intermission.
            The third quarter saw five lead changes and four ties as Minnesota State held a six-point lead at 46-40 with four minutes left in the quarter.  WSC scored seven straight points to regain the lead at 47-46 and the 'Cats later took a five-point lead at 57-52 on a jump shot from Boswell with 45 seconds to play before the Mavericks closed the quarter cutting Wayne State's lead to one at 57-56.
            Wayne sophomore Brooklyn Kruse had eight points in the quarter, making all four shots from the field, as WSC made 8 of 14 shots (57 percent) in the quarter.
            Minnesota State's tenacious full-court pressure caught up to the Wildcats in the fourth quarter as the Mavericks forced 14 Wildcat turnovers and outscored WSC 29-11 in the quarter to break away for an 85-68 win.
            Maya Fitzpatrick opened the final stanza with a basket to put WSC in front 59-56 at the 9:09 mark.   Minnesota State then went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 70-59 lead.
            The game ended with 50 fouls, 61 free throws and 57 turnovers taking 2:09 to play.
            Clark ended with 15 points to lead Wayne State in scoring.  Tate Norblade added 11 points with Kruse scoring 10.
            Wayne State made 23 of 55 shots for 41.8 percent, going 5 of 16 from the 3-point line and 17 for 26 (65.4%) at the charity stripe.
            Destinee Bursch poured in 19 points for Minnesota State.  Lucy Leininger and Natalie Bremer each had 14 with Mackenzie Schweim scoring 12.
            Minnesota State shot 42.3 percent from the field on 30 of 71 shooting.  The Mavericks were 4 of 12 from the 3-point line and 21 for 35 at the free throw stripe.
            The Mavericks won the rebounding battle over WSC 44-36 with Clark grabbing five boards for WSC.  Meg Rietz had a team-high four blocked shots with three assists while Norblade had a team-high four steals.
            The Wildcats will be at home again Saturday afternoon hosting Winona State at 3:30 p.m.