Box Score #14 Winona State 63 Wayne State 49

            The Wayne State College women's basketball team could not overcome a 16-2 first quarter deficit as the Wildcats fell at #14 Winona State 63-49 Saturday evening in a Northern Sun Conference contest played at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota.  The host Warriors improve to 19-2 and 12-2 in league play while WSC drops to 11-8 and 8-6 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats struggled early in the contest, trailing 16-2 after one quarter of play.  The lone WSC basket was a layup by freshman Maggie Lowe at the 4:24 mark of the quarter.
            WSC outscored Winona State 18-14 in the second quarter to get within 10 at halftime trailing 30-20.
            Wayne State made a charge at the Warriors in the third quarter, cutting a 34-22 Winona State lead to 36-33 with 4:06 to play in the third following a Maggie Schulte 3-pointer.
            The Wildcats got as close as two at 41-39 on a Andrea Larson free throw with 1:29 remaining in the quarter.  But on the following possession, Wayne State's Paige Ballinger was called for her fourth foul which led to a technical foul called on the Wildcat bench and Winona State pushed the lead back to seven at 47-40 before finishing the quarter with a 47-42 lead.
            A Kacie O'Connor free throw with 8:44 left to play pulled WSC within four at 47-43, but the Warriors put the game out of reach scoring the next 12 points to take a sizeable 59-43 lead and Winona State finished with a 63-49 win.
            Senior guard Sadie Murren led Wayne State in scoring with nine points followed by Kacie O'Connor and Taylor Reiner with eight apiece.
            Wayne State shot just 31.4 percent from the field making 16 of 51 shots.  The 'Cats were 3 for 19 behind the arc and 14 for 22 at the charity stripe.
            Alexis Foley led Winona State with a game-high 17 points followed by Tara Roelofs and Connor Nagle with 14 each.
            Winona State made 23 of 60 shots from the floor for 38.3 percent, including 7 of 25 from the 3-point line.  The Warriors were 10 for 15 at the foul line.
            WSC held a slight 40-39 edge in rebounding over Winona State thanks to 10 boards by Schulte and a career-high nine caroms from O'Connor. 
            The Wildcats had 15 turnovers in the game to 11 for Winona State.  Winona State held a 28-14 advantage on points in the paint and 19-4 in points off turnovers against the Wildcats.
            Wayne State returns home next weekend, hosting Minot State Saturday at 3 p.m. and the University of Mary Sunday in a 1 p.m. contest at Rice Auditorium.