WAYNE – With five road games coming up in late November and early December, the Wayne State College women’s basketball team began their season on the home court Friday night.
From Rice Auditorium in Wayne, the Wildcat women welcomed in Newman (KS) in non-conference play.
Each quarter featured at least 20 points by either team with the fourth quarter reaching the 30s. Final favored Wayne State College over Newman, 99-90. WSC begins their season at 1-0 while Newman fell to 0-1.
The Wildcat women jumped ahead in the first quarter, 27-14 before both teams added 20 points in the second quarter. WSC led 47-34 at the break. Newman then chipped away at the deficit with a 22-20 third quarter and 34-32 fourth. Final favored Wayne State College, 99-90.
Wayne State College led for most of the game (37:34 compared to 2:13) with two lead changes. There were a combined 60 fouls called (27 – Newman/33 – WSC).
Lauren Zacharias led Wayne State with 22 points (8-14 FG/4-8 3PT/2-2 FT), two rebounds, two assists and one steal; Logan Hughes added 19 points (5-14 FG/1-6 3PT/8-9 FT), five rebounds, three assists and one steal as Kassidy Pingel (4-7 FG/0-1 3PT/4-5 FT) finished with 12 points and three rebounds.
Other scoring came from Ashley Guentzel with nine points and two steals; Abby Kopecky had seven points, two rebounds, one steal and an assist; Maya Fitzpatrick had six points, five rebounds, four steals and an assist; Tate Norblade closed with five points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist; Rachel Dahlen (two rebounds/two steals/assist) and Kylah Vandonkersgoed (one rebound/steal/assist) both had four points; Ashley Gustavson (one rebound/steal/assist), Brigid Boyle (two rebounds) and Delaney Clark (one rebound/three assists) all scored three points as Avery Kallman had two points and a rebound. Meg Reitz tallied one steal.
Wayne State finished 29-66 (43.9%) from the field; 10-30 (33.3%) from behind the arc and 31-38 (81.6%) at the foul line.
Newman leaders were Lauren Dubbert (6-10 FG/4-5 3PT/8-8 FT) with 24 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists; Britney Ho (9-11 FG/0-1 3PT/5-5 FT) added 23 points and five rebounds as Maddie Spagnola (4-11 FG/2-3 3PT/8-10 FT) finished with 18 points, four rebounds, seven assists and a steal.
Newman shot 26-53 (49.1%) from the floor, 8-17 (47.1%) from the three-point line and 30-38 (78.9%) at the charity stripe.
The Wayne State College women will next visit Chadron State College on Wednesday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m. CT.
