With a pair of road conference outings set for next weekend, the Wayne State College women and men closed out their first home back-to-back for NSIC play.
From Rice Auditorium, WSC entertained Winona State University Saturday.
The Wildcat women won 66-63 in overtime while the WSC men secured a 68-63 victory over the Warriors.
In the women’s game, Winona State University led 18-17 after the first quarter followed by WSC winning the second, 8-7. At the break, the game was tied at 25-25. The visiting Warriors began to pull away in the third at 18-12 but the Wildcats answered with a 19-13 fourth. The game was tied at 56-56 entering OT. Thanks to seven straight points in overtime, Wayne State College outscored WSU, 10-7 to win 66-63.
The host Wildcats improved to 4-3 (1-2 NSIC) as Winona State University fell to 5-4 (1-2 NSIC).
This was the first overtime game since February 2, 2024 (L vs. CSP 73-66 in 2 OT) and snapped a three-game losing streak in OT going back to December 18, 2022 (W vs. Upper Iowa 77-70).
Wayne State College was led by senior Carsyn Boswell (6-9 FG/0-1 3PT/2-3 FT) with 14 points, two rebounds and one assist; sophomore Brooklyn Kruse (5-7 FG/1-1 FT) followed with 11 points, two rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal; senior Tate Norblade (4-6 FG/2-2 FT) added 10 points, five rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals as junior Kylah Vandonkersgoed (3-13 FG/2-7 3PT/2-4 FT) tallied 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
Other scoring came from senior Delaney Clark (one rebound) with nine points as six-point scoring came from senior Maya Fitzpatrick (five rebounds/four assists/three blocks/two steals) and junior Meg Reitz (three rebounds).
The Wildcats shot 28-65 (43.1%) from the field, 3-16 (18.8%) from the three-point line and 7-10 (70%) at the foul line.
Winona State University leaders were Vivica Bretton with 18 points, Olivia Gamoke added 15 points as Hailey Markworth tallied 10 points.
The Warriors finished 26-61 (42.6%) from the floor, 6-20 (30%) behind the arc and 5-5 (100%) from the charity stripe.
Wayne State College outrebounded Winona State University, 40-29 including 13 to six offensive which led to 12 second chance points compared to two for WSU. Wayne State College scored 12 points off of 16 Warrior turnovers while Winona State University scored nine points off of 16 Wildcat turnovers.
Wayne State College won the battle in the paint (36-32) and bench scoring (20-9) while both teams finished with four fast break points.
During the men’s game, Winona State University scored the first eight points nearly two minute into the game and had at-most a 10-point lead seven minutes into the first half. Wayne State College stormed back to take a 37-29 lead at half. WSU did win the second half 34-31 but Wayne State College held onto the victory at 68-63.
The host Wildcats improved to 7-2 (1-2 NSIC) as Winona State University saw their six-game winning streak snapped falling to 7-2 (2-1 NSIC). Both teams were receiving votes and listed just outside the top 25 coaches poll.
Also, head coach Jeff Kaminsky has tied Al Svenningson as the all-time wins leader for men’s basketball with 121 career wins in nine seasons. Coach Svenningson accumulated a record of 121-73 in eight seasons as coach Kaminsky is now 121-114. Recently coach Kaminsky also passed Greg McDermott (116-53 from 1994-2000) on November 15 and is tied for the second longest tenured coach behind Ray Hickman (11 years/1927-38) and Rico Burkett (nine years/2000-09).
Wayne State College was led by junior transfer Kai Smith (6-6 FG/2-2 3PT/3-3 FT) with 17 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals; fifth-year senior Cody McCullough (6-8 FG/0-1 3PT/2-4 FT) added 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks as sophomore JJ Ferrin (4-11 FG/1-6 3PT/2-2 FT) followed with 11 points and five rebounds.
Other scoring came from fifth-year senior Jay Saunders (three rebounds/one block) with eight points, six-point scoring came from freshman Matt Noll (two assists/one steal) and sophomore Landon Classen (two rebounds) as three-point scoring came from junior Ryan Blum (two rebounds/one assist/one block) and fifth-year senior Sean Stokes (one rebound/one assist/three steals).
The Wildcats shot 25-51 (49%) from the field, 10-26 (38.5%) from the three-point line and 8-11 (72.7%) at the foul line.
Winona State University leaders were Conner Drew with 15 points, Tyler Mason added 14 points, Jhei-R Jones and Luke Haertle both followed with 11 points as Isaiah Thompson tallied 10 points.
The Warriors finished 21-52 (40.4%) from the floor, 10-29 (34.5%) behind the arc and 11-17 (64.7%) from the charity stripe.
Winona State University outrebounded Wayne State College, 33-28 including 11 to six offensive which led to 12 second chance points compared to five for WSC. Wayne State College scored 14 points off of 11 Warrior turnovers while Winona State University scored 13 points off of 10 Wildcat turnovers.
Wayne State College won the battle in the paint (24-16), fast break scoring (2-1) and bench scoring (26-2).
The Wayne State College women’s and men’s basketball teams will next visit Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 – 14.
