The Wayne State women came up big in the fourth quarter in both NSIC home games over the weekend, beating Bemidji State (85-71) and Minnesota Crookston (88-83).
On Saturday, Wayne State outscored Bemidji State 26-11 in the fourth quarter to break away from a tightly contested game to claim the win over the Beavers.
Bemidji State built a 16-8 lead at the 2:02 mark of the first quarter, but Wayne State closed the quarter by scoring nine of the final 11 points to cut the Beaver lead to 18-17 after one quarter.
The Beavers pushed the lead back to five at 25-20 at the 6:53 mark of the second quarter, but the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run over the next 4:30 to take a 31-25 advantage, building the lead to as many as seven on an Andrea Larson 3-point play before finishing the half with a 37-32 lead at intermission.
Wayne State held the lead for the first part of the third quarter, only to find the visiting Beavers come back late to take a 60-59 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Wayne State led 46-41 with 6:18 to play third quarter following a Bongartz three-point play, but Bemidji State regained the lead at 50-48 on a Sdyney Zerr 3-pointer and pushed the lead to as many as five at 56-51 before ending the quarter with a 60-59 advantage.
Wayne State took control of the game in the fourth, scoring the first 12 points of the period to build a 71-60 lead, then sealed the win by 13-of-19 free throws in the fourth quarter to come away with the 14-point win.
Halley Busse scored a season-high 19 points to lead four Wildcat double-digit scorers for Wayne State. She also handed out a game-high seven assists. Erin Norling followed with 18 points with Andrea Larson (15) and Brittany Bongartz (13) also reaching double figures.
Wayne State’s top rebounder was Larson with nine followed by Bongartz with seven. Busse had seven of Wayne State’s 17 assists while Busse, Larson and Haley Vesey each were credited with three steals.
On Sunday afternoon, Wayne State trailed for nearly the entire game, but used a season-high 29-point fourth quarter to rally for the win over the Golden Eagles.
The Wildcats trailed 14-4 less than four minutes into the game and trailed the entire contest until taking their first lead with 7:34 remaining in the game.
Despite trailing 14-4 and 21-11 in the first quarter, the Wildcats closed the quarter strong and got within four at 24-20 following quarter-ending 3-pointers by Larson and Kylie Hammer.
Crookston pushed the lead back to 10 several times in the second quarter, with the Wildcats again closing the quarter strong to cut into the deficit. The Golden Eagles led 34-24 at the 3:43 mark of the second quarter before Wayne State used back-to-back treys from Maggie Lowe and a layup from Amelia Ivester to trim the deficit to make it 39-35 at the half.
In the third quarter, Minnesota Crookston maintained the lead and was in front by seven going to the final period, but the Wildcats started the fourth quarter with a 11-2 run and took their first lead of the game at 70-68 on a 3-pointer from Hammer with 7:34 to play.
The two teams traded six ties and three lead changes down the stretch until Wayne State scored the final six points of the game for the victory. The Wildcats took an 82-78 lead on a Lowe 3-pointer with 3:44 remaining, but the Golden Eagles used a 3-pointer by Caitlin Michaelis and a layup from Isieoma Odor to take their final lead at 83-82 with 1:57 to play. Larson and Hammer made a pair of free throws each to put Wayne State in front 86-83, then Hammer sealed the win with two more free throws with three seconds to play for the five-point win.
Hammer led five double digit scorers for Wayne State with a career and season-high 19 points, going 5-of-10 from the field and 6-for-7 at the free throw stripe. Erin Norling added 18 points followed by Larson with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Halley Busse and Brittany Bongartz each contributed 12 points. Isieoma Odor paced Minnesota Crookston with a game-high 29 points.
Larson led the Wildcats with 13 rebounds. Hammer had five of Wayne State’s 19 assists and also had three steals. Norling led Wayne zstate with five steals while Larson, Bongartz and Ivester each had two blocked shots.
The Wildcats (7-3, 3-2 NSIC) close out the pre-Christmas schedule with a non-conference game Wednesday evening, hosting Midland University at 5:30 p.m.
