Box Score             Minnesota Crookston edged Wayne State 70-67 in a Northern Sun Conference women's basketball game Friday evening at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston, Minnesota.  The Golden Eagles improve to 7-12 and 5-8 in league play while the Wildcats fall to 9-8 and 6-7 in the NSIC following the loss.
            After trailing a majority of the contest, WSC surged late third quarter into the fourth to turn a 10-point deficit into a five-point lead with just under eight minutes to play.  But the host Golden Eagles battled back and made key free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold off the Wildcats.
            The game started with several early lead changes and after WSC held a 10-8 lead, Minnesota Crookston closed the opening stanza with a 15-12 lead. 
            WSC opened the second quarter strong, using a basket by Delaney Clark, two Maya Fitzpatrick free throws and a 3-pointer from Clark to grab a 22-20 lead. 
            Minnesota Crookston then scored 12 straight points in just 2:49 to take a 10-point lead at 32-22.
            With UMC still leading 36-26, WSC closed the half with a Kylah vanDonkersgoed 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by Carsyn Boswell to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 36-31 at intermission.
            Wayne State still trailed much of the third quarter until senior Maya Fitzpatrick got on a scoring roll for the 'Cats to get WSC back into the contest.  Fitzpatrick scored Wayne State's final eight points of the quarter helping the 'Cats turn a 51-45 deficit into a 53-53 tie after three quarters.
            A pair of Fitzpatrick free throws for her ninth and 10^th straight points gave WSC a 55-53 lead and the 'Cats extended the lead to five at 60-55 after a trey from vanDonkersgoed.
            But WSC went scoreless for the next 5:08 as Minnesota Crookston took a 61-60 lead.
            The two teams traded several leads until back-to-back jumpers by Clark knotted the score at 66-66 with 1:16 left.
            Minnesota Crookston regained the lead with just 13 seconds left on two free throws for a 68-66 lead.
            Wayne State's Tate Norblade was fouled on a layup and hit one of two charity tosses to make the score 68-67.  UMC was fouled right away on the inbounds pass and made both free throws for a 70-67 advantage.  WSC was not able to get a 3-point shot off to tie the game and the host Golden Eagles held on for the narrow win.
            Fitzpatrick had 13 of her 17 points in the second half for Wayne State while Clark also finished with 17 and vanDonkersgoed scored 16.
            WSC shot 37.1 percent from the field making 23 of 62 shots.  The 'Cats were 7 for 19 from the 3-point line and 14 of 16 at the free throw line.
            Minnesota Crookston's top scorer was Emma Miller with 24 points.  Nicole Hernandez added 18 with Riley Jenkins scoring 10.
            UMC shot 41.5 percent from the field making 27 of 65 shots, including 5 of 17 from the 3-point line and 11 for 13 at the charity stripe.
            WSC had one more rebound than Minnesota Crookston 40-39.  Tate Norblade had seven caroms for the 'Cats followed by Fitzpatrick with six. 
            Wayne State visits MSU Moorhead Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to close out their NSIC weekend road trip.