#10 Metro State 74 #9 Wayne State 55
#10 Metro State used hot shooting and a 49-29 advantage in rebounding to defeat #9 Wayne State College 74-55 Saturday evening in the NCAA Division II Central Regional Women's Basketball Tournament semi-finals played at Whalen Gymnasium in Durango, Colorado. The Roadrunners advance into Monday evening's championship game with a 29-2 record while Wayne State closes the year at 26-4, marking the second straight season the Wildcats have notched 26 wins while advancing to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Metro State got off to a quick start, making five of their first seven shots from the floor to take a 10-2 lead on the Wildcats with 16:38 to play in the first half. After starting the game just 1 of 8 from the floor, Wayne State then caught fire and made five of their next six shots and pulled within two at 15-13 on a Alisha Brown fast break layin with 12:00 to play in the first half.
But the Roadrunners held WSC scoreless for the next 4:19 and built a 24-13 lead. An Ashley Arlen three pointer at the 7:41 mark of the first half ended the scoring drought at 24-16, but that's as close as the Wildcats would be to Metro State the rest of the night. The Roadrunners closed the half on a 18-6 run and took a commanding 42-22 lead at halftime as Metro State finished the first half shooting 57 percent (16 of 28) from the field while Wayne State was held to just 28.6 percent in the first half on 10 of 35.
Metro State continued their stellar shooting for most of the second half and never let Wayne State get any closer than 16 points (71-53 with 1:43 to play) as the Roadrunners went on to the 74-55 win ending the Wildcat season.
“It was a disappointing night…a tough way for this special group of players to go out,” commented WSC head coach Chris Kielsmeier in the post-game press conference. “You have to give Metro State some credit. They are a great basketball team and played well tonight and took us out of our half court offense. I'm so proud of each and every one of our players. I wished we would have went out differently.”
Senior center Mara Hjelle led Wayne State in scoring with a game-high 24 points, going 12 of 23 from the field. Junior forward Ashley Arlen also reached double digits with 12 points. Wayne State finished the night shooting 24 of 66 from the field for 36.4 percent, making just 4 of 17 shots from three point range and 3 of 4 at the free throw line.
Cassondra Bratton scored 20 points to pace Metro State followed by Alyssa Benson with 12 points and Jasmine Cervantes with 10. The Roadrunners made 28 of 62 shots from the floor for 45.2 percent, making 6 of 14 behind the three point line and 12 of 14 from the charity stripe.
Metro State won the rebounding battle over Wayne State 49-29 as Kristin Valencia grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Roadrunners on the glass while Ashley Arlen hauled in nine caroms to lead Wayne State on the glass.
Wayne State had just 11 turnovers in the game compared to 15 for Metro State.
Saturday night's game marks the final contest in a Wildcat uniform for four seniors as Alyssa Fischbach, Mara Hjelle, Julie Ann Wagner and Renee Wood saw their playing careers close at Wayne State College.
