A three-game home stand began Friday night for the Wayne State College women’s and men’s basketball teams.
From Rice Auditorium, WSC played host to Northern State to begin weekend competition.
The Wayne State College women secured an 87-82 overtime win while the Wildcat men picked up an 84-61 victory against the visiting Wolves.
In the women’s outing, both teams scored 20 points in the first quarter before Northern State built their lead to at-most 17 points late in the second quarter thanks to a 21-11 advantage. The visiting Wolves led 41-31 at the break. Both teams scored 16 points in the third quarter before Wayne State College outscored NSU, 26-16 in the final quarter.
Senior Tate Norblade made two foul shots with just under two seconds remaining to force OT where the Wildcats edged Northern State, 14-9. Final in OT favored Wayne State College winning 87-82 to improve to 8-6 (5-5 NSIC) as the Wolves had their four-game winning streak snapped falling to 9-6 (6-3 NSIC).
Wayne State College leaders were career-high scoring from senior Maya Fitzpatrick (9-14 FG/4-7 3PT/6-9 FT) with 28 points, one rebound, one assist and three steals; senior Kylah VanDonkersgoed also had a career night scoring (9-11 FG/3-4 3PT/1-4 FT) with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block; Norblade (3-5 FG/7-10 FT) tallied 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block as junior Meg Rietz (4-9 FG/1-2 3PT/2-2 FT) tacked on 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Other scoring came from senior Delaney Clark (one rebound/one assist) with eight points, senior Carsyn Boswell (one rebound/two assists) tacked on three points as sophomore Brooklyn Kruse (one rebound/one assist/one block) had two points.
The Wildcats shot 29-56 (51.8%) from the field, 10-20 (50%) from behind the arc and 19-29 (65.5%) from the foul line.
Northern State was led in scoring by Michaela Jewett who posted a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds followed by Rianna Fillipi with 20 points, Alayna Benike fouled out of the game with 15 points and nine rebounds, Madelyn Bragg tacked on 13 points as Morgan Fiedler scored 10 points.
The Wolves finished 32-67 (47.8%) from the floor, 6-19 (31.6%) from the three-point line and 12-15 (80%) from the charity stripe.
Northern State outrebounded Wayne State College, 42-28 including 14 to 6 offensive which led to 14 second chance points compared to 10 second chance points for WSC. Wayne State College scored 30 points off of 19 Northern State turnovers while the Wolves scored 10 points off of 15 Wildcat turnovers.
Northern State won the battle in the paint (48-28) and fast break scoring (18-13) as WSC won bench scoring (10-3).
During the men’s game, Wayne State College led 37-30 at the break and used a 47-31 advantage during the final 20 minutes. Final favored WSC winning 84-61 to snap a three-game losing streak improving to 9-7 (3-7 NSIC) as Northern State dropped their 11th straight falling to 1-14 (0-9 NSIC).
Wayne State College leaders were fifth-year senior Cody McCullough (7-10 FG/1-1 3PT/2-2 FT) who recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds along with two assists and two blocks; freshman Matt Noll (6-12 FG/0-1 3 PT/1-1 FT) added 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks; sophomore JJ Ferrin (4-8 FG/4-7 3PT) followed with 12 points, two rebounds, four assists and one steal; fifth-year senior Jay Saunders (4-6 FG/1-2 3PT/2-2) tallied 11 points, two rebounds, four assists, five steals and one block as fifth-year senior Noah Erickson (5-9 FG/1-3 PT) tacked on 11 points and four rebounds.
Other scoring came from fifth-year senior Sean Stokes (one rebound/five assists/three steals) and sophomore Landon Classen (three rebounds/two assists/one steal) both had six points, junior transfer Kai Smith (one rebound/one assist) and freshman Nassir Binion each scored three points as redshirt freshman Aiden Sullivan finished with two points.
The Wildcats shot 32-62 (51.6%) from the field, 12-25 (48%) from behind the arc and 8-9 (88.9%) at the foul line.
Northern State was led in scoring by James Glenn and Ethan Russel (four made three’s) both with 17 points for the Wolves.
The Wolves finished 18-46 (39.1%) from the floor, 10-23 (43.5%) from the three-point line and 15-22 (68.2%) from the charity stripe.
Wayne State College outrebounded Northern State, 31-29 as both teams picked up 10 offensive rebounds which led to 13 second chance points for WSC compared to eight second chance points for NSU. Wayne State College scored 29 points off of 18 Northern State turnovers while the Wolves scored eight points off of 10 Wildcat turnovers.
Wayne State College won the battle in the paint (38-14), fast break scoring (19-8) and bench scoring (25-22).
The Wayne State College women and men are back in action on Saturday hosting University of Mary at 3:30/5:30 p.m. This will be the final doubleheader in which the women’s game will be played first. Starting next Friday, January 17, men’s game will open the doubleheader action followed by the women.
