#9 Wayne State 79 Mary 67
#9 Wayne State College shot a season-high 56.3 percent from the field (27 of 48) as the Wildcats recorded their 20th win of the season Friday evening with a 79-67 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. It marks the second straight season and fifth time in the last seven seasons that Wayne State has recorded a 20-win season as the Wildcat women improve to 20-2 overall and 17-1 in the NSIC. Friday night's win also gives WSC a share of the 2010-11 NSIC regular season conference title.
The game was close early until Wayne State used a pair of scoring spurts late in the half to take a double digit lead that the Wildcats would never relinquish. After Wayne State jumped out to an early 11-5 lead, the host Marauders put together a 14-6 run to take a 19-17 lead with 8:16 to go in the first half following a Rachel Zillmer free throw. Later in the half with Mary leading 23-22, Wayne State scored 10 straight points in a span of 2:17 to give the Wildcats a 32-23 lead on an Ellen Hansen three pointer with 4:12 to play in the half.
Wayne State took their first double digit lead at 35-25 with 2:37 remaining until halftime on a Ashley Arlen three point play and the Wildcats finished the half with a 40-29 lead following an Alisha Brown layup with 10 seconds to play in the half.
The Wildcats opened the second half strong, scoring 11 of the first 13 points, and took a 51-31 lead on a pair of Mara Hjelle free throws with 16:10 to go in the game. WSC took their biggest lead of the night at 23 points on a Alisha Brown layup at 58-35 with 14:30 left and finished with the 79-67 win over the Marauders.
Junior forward Ashley Arlen led Wayne State in scoring with 19 points. She also hauled in 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Alisha Brown accounted for a season-high 15 points off the bench while senior center Mara Hjelle chipped in with 13 points.
The Wildcats finished the game making 27 of 48 shots for a season-high 56.3 percent and made 9 of 17 shots behind the three point line. WSC was just 16 of 27 (59%) at the free throw line.
Mary's top scorer was Ali Collins with a game-high 23 points and also had eight steals. McKenzie Foster added 14 points for the Marauders, who shot just 37 percent against WSC making 23 of 62 shots. UM was 6 of 18 from the three point line and 15 of 20 at the charity stripe.
Wayne State held a 39-28 advantage in rebounding over Mary thanks to 11 rebounds by Arlen while Mary's top rebounders were Rachel Zillmer and Shaunna Knife with five boards each. The Wildcats had 20 turnovers in the game to just 12 for Mary.
Friday's win at Mary gave the Wildcats a share of the 2010-11 Northern Sun Conference regular season title, leading Concordia-St. Paul and Northern State by four games with four games to play. Wayne State will conclude their NSIC road trip Saturday evening with a 6:00 p.m. contest at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
