#17 Southwest Minnesota State jumped out to a 24-12 first quarter lead and never looked back in defeating Wayne State 78-65 in a Northern Sun Conference women's basketball game played Tuesday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. WSC drops to 10-13 and 7-12 in the NSIC while SMSU improves to 23-2 and 17-2 in league play.
The visiting Mustangs used 52 percent shooting (10-19) in the opening quarter to grab a 24-12 lead on the Wildcats.
SMSU extended their lead to 31-15 at the 7:07 mark of the second quarter, but thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore
Brooklyn Kruse the 'Cats trimmed the Mustang lead to eight at 33-25. That's as close as WSC would get the rest of the half as Southwest Minnesota State finished with a 43-31 lead at intermission.
Both teams shot 50 percent in the third quarter (8-16) as the Wildcats could get no closer than 11 points while ending the third quarter trailing 63-48.
Wayne State cut into the Mustang lead for part of the fourth quarter, getting as close as nine at 70-61 following a pair of
Kylah vanDonkersgoed free throws with 2:43 remaining. But SMSU scored the next five points to get their lead back to 14 and finished with the 78-65 victory.
Kruse was the top scorer for Wayne State with 15 points, 14 coming in the first half. vanDonkersgoed added 14 points with
Maya Fitzpatrick scoring 13 and
Tate Norblade 10.
WSC was 20 of 66 from the field for 30.3 percent, including 4 of 17 from 3-point range. The 'Cats were 21 for 25 at the free throw line.
Bri Stoltzman scored a game-high 33 points for Southwest Minnesota State followed by Audrey Swanson with 16 points and Peyton Blandin 10.
SMSU shot 39.7 percent on 27 of 68, going 5 of 17 behind the arc, and 19 for 21 at the charity stripe.
The Mustangs held a slim 47-43 edge in rebounding with junior
Meg Rietz matching a career-high with 11 rebounds.
Fitzpatrick had four assists while Norblade and Rietz each recorded two blocks.
The 'Cats are home again this weekend to close out a four-game home stand hosting St. Cloud State Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Bemidji State Saturday at 5:30 p.m.