WAYNE – For the first time in three scheduled dates, the Wayne State College women’s and men’s basketball teams played at home on a Sunday afternoon.
WSC closed out NSIC Cross-Division play from Rice Auditorium with Minnesota Crookston in town.
During the women’s contest, Minnesota Crookston jumped out front 14-10 after a quarter of play before both teams scored 15 second quarter points. The Golden Eagles held a 39-35 lead at the break. After UMC outscored the ‘Cats in the third quarter (27-24) the fourth favored WSC with a 29-17 mark to win 88-83. Wayne State didn’t lead until the 7:34 mark in the game before there were six ties and three lead changes. WSC improves to 7-3 (3-2 NSIC) as the Golden Eagles fall to 7-4 (2-3 NSIC).
Kylie Hammer came off the bench and took control scoring 19 points on 5-10 shooting (3-5 3PT/6-7 FT), five assists and three steals as Erin Norling was right behind with 18 points and five steals. Andrea Larson picked up a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds as Halley Busse and Brittany Bongartz both tallied 12 points. Other scoring came from Maggie Lowe with nine points and Amelia Ivester tacking on six points. Busse added four assists while Ivester, Larson and Bongartz came away with two blocks.
The ‘Cats shot 32-72 (44.4%) from the field, 10-27 (37%) from behind the arc and 14-18 (77.8%) from the foul line.
Double figure scorers were led by the 29 points and nine boards from Isieoma Odor as Caitlin Michaelis added 15 points (5-10 3PT). Bren Fox posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards as Paige Weakley tallied 14 points (4-8 3PT).
UMC closed the day 32-69 (46.4%) from the floor, 12-28 (42.9%) from the three-point line and 7-7 (100%) from the charity stripe.
Scoring by quarter:
1st 2nd Half 3rd 4th Final:
24 15 39 27 17 83 – Minnesota Crookston
20 15 35 24 29 88 – Wayne State College
From the men’s game, UMC scored first to lead 2-0 before WSC would tie the game at 2-2 five minutes into the game. The ‘Cats held a 34-27 lead going into the locker room. In the second half, WSC saw their lead grow with a 38-25 second half to win 72-52. Wayne State secures their ninth straight win to sit 10-1 overall and 5-0 in league play (top team in NSIC South) as Minnesota Crookston fell to 7-6 (1-4 NSIC).
Trevin Joseph again paced the team in scoring with 18 points on 9-17 shooting from the field and five assists followed by 15 points from Kendall Jacks. Vance Janssen added 14 points, six boards and two blocks as Jordan Janssen tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks with two steals. Other scoring came from Nick Ferrarini, Tony Bonner and Luke TerHark with three points each and two points from Nosa Iyagbaye. Joseph tacked on two blocks and two steals as Jacks tallied two steals.
WSC shot 26-57 (45.6%) from the field, 5-17 (29.4%) from behind the arc and 15-19 (78.9%) from the foul line.
Ben Juhl was the team leader for UMC in scoring with 12 points followed by nine points from Harrison Cleary.
The Golden Eagles finished 21-59 (35.6%) from the floor, 3-17 (17.6%) from the three-point line and 7-12 (58.6%) from the charity stripe.
Scoring by half:
1st 2nd Final:
27 25 52 – Minnesota Crookston
34 38 72 – Wayne State College
The Wayne State College women will next host Midland University on Wednesday, December 19 to close out their non-conference play. The Wildcat men will be off until they join their women hosting Augustana on Sunday, December 30.