#13 Wayne State 83 Mary 63
Five players scored in double figures to lead #13 Wayne State College in a 83-63 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win over the University of Mary Sunday afternoon at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The game was moved back one day due to poor weather conditions in the area Saturday. The Wildcats are now 7-1 overall and in sole possession of first place in the NSIC with a 4-0 league mark while the visiting Marauders drop to 4-4 and 1-3 in league play.
After two early ties at 3-3 and 5-5, WSC went on an 11-0 run and were threatened in the game. With the score tied at 5-5 with 15:39 remaining in the first half, the Wildcats used a three pointer from Clare Duwelius, a jumper by Alyssa Fischbach and consecutive treys by Duwelius and Julie Ann Wagner to take a 16-5 lead with 13:44 to go in the half. WSC pushed the lead to 34-13 at the 9:23 mark of the half on a Fischbach jumper and held its biggest lead of the first half at 26 points at 53-27 before taking a 53-30 lead at halftime.
WSC scored nine of the first 12 points in the second half to go up by 29 points at 62-33 with 14:07 remaining in the game following a Mara Hjelle layup. The Wildcats built its biggest lead of the game at 35 points at 80-45 on a pair of Renee Wood free throws with 6:54 remaining and reserves played out the rest of the game as WSC cruised to the 83-63 win.
Ashley Arlen and Clare Duwelius led five Wildcat players in double figures with 14 points apiece followed by Alyssa Fischbach with 13, Alisha Brown 11 and Mara Hjelle 10. Wayne State made 20 of 36 shots in the first half for 55.6 percent and finished the game making 28 of 66 shots for 42.4 percent. The 'Cats were 12 of 30 behind the three point line and 15 of 21 from the charity stripe.
McKenzie Foster poured in a game-high 20 points to lead the University of Mary. Lindsey Sand also reached double figures with 12 for the Marauders. UM connected on 22 of 53 shots fro 41.5 percent, hitting on 8 of 17 three point shots and 11 of 14 attempts at the foul line.
Mary held a slim 38-36 edge in rebounding over the Wildcats. Four different players had five rebounds for Mary while Fischbach hauled in a game-high nine rebounds for WSC followed by Arlen with eight boards. Duwelius and Ali Schwartzwald each handed out five assists for WSC as the Wildcats were credited with 17 assists in the game to go with eight steals.
Wayne State will be on the road again next weekend, playing at MSU Moorhead Friday night and Minnesota, Crookston Saturday night in Northern Sun Conference games starting at 6:00 p.m. each night.
