KEARNEY – For the second straight night, the Wayne state College women’s basketball team played a Central Region opponent from the MIAA.
From the Health & Sports Center in Kearney, WSC closed out the UNK Crossover Tourney against the host Nebraska-Kearney. Both teams entered Saturday evening at 1-0.
After Wayne State held the early advantage with a 16-12 first quarter lead, Nebraska-Kearney used a 26-18 scoring streak thanks to a 12-point scoring run to lead 38-34 at the break. Both teams then scored 25 points in the third quarter and another 20 in the fourth for a final of 83-79 favoring the Lopers. UNK improves to 2-0 while Wayne State falls to 1-1.
Four Wildcats hit double figure scoring led by junior center Brittany Bongartz with 19 points on 7-10 shooting (1-1 3PT/4-4 FT) to go along with five rebounds and four blocks. Junior forward Erin Norling added 18 points (5-15 FG/0-2 3PT/8-9 FT) and seven rebounds, junior point guard Halley Busse scored 17 points (5-13 FG/3-7 3PT/4-6 FT) while tacking on four assists and two steals and sophomore point guard Kylie Hammer scored 11 points (4-7 FG/0-2 3PT/3-3 FT).
Other scoring came from freshman guard Josey Ryan with eight points and seven rebounds (four offensive) as sophomore guard Autumn Mlinar and freshman point guard Lauren Zacharias both scored three points.
WSC shot 25-6 (41%) from the field, 7-18 (38.9%) from behind the arc and 22-28 (78.6%) at the foul line.
Nebraska-Kearney was led by a double-double from Brooke Carlson scoring 20 points while adding 10 rebounds (three offensive). Maegan Holt added 17 points as Kelsey Sanger scored 10 points.
UNK scored more points in the paint than WSC (40-34), second chance points (13-7), fast break points (18-17) and bench points (20-14).
The Lopers finished 29-65 (44.6%) from the floor, 7-23 (30.4%) from the three-point line and 18-35 (51.4%) at the charity stripe.
Northwest Missouri State used a pair of foul shots to go up 66-64 to defeat Minnesota Crookston. The Bearcats improved to 1-1 while the Golden Eagles fell to 0-2.
The Wayne State women’s basketball team will join the Wildcat men for the first home basketball games played at Rice Auditorium on Wednesday, November 13. The women will host Peru State at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men hosting Nebraska Christian College at 7:30 p.m.