The Wayne State men’s and women’s basketball teams came up short on the road Friday with losses at University of Sioux Falls.
In the women’s matchup, Sioux Falls used a 17-0 run to close the second quarter to take control of the game as they rolled past Wayne State 81-59.
Wayne State built a 13-7 first quarter lead at the 2:22 mark following a Taylor Reiner layup. The final lead for Wayne State came at 14-12 with :46 left on a Reiner free throw before Sioux Falls closing the opening stanza with a 16-14 lead.
The Wildcats were within four points at 27-23 with 6:29 to play in the second quarter when the Cougars closed the first half on a 17-0 run to take control of the game with a 44-23 halftime lead.
Wayne State ended a scoreless streak of nearly seven minutes early in the third quarter on a layup by Brittany Bongartz and the Wildcats got as close as 13 at 48-35 on a Bongartz three-point play with 7:33 to play in the quarter.
Sioux Falls held Wayne State without a basket for the next 5:40 and built a 58-39 lead before a Halley Busse 3-pointer with 1:53 to play third quarter ended another Wildcat scoring drought, but the Wildcats weren’t able to rally as they dropped to 8-5 overall and 3-4 in NSIC action.
Bongartz led Wayne State with 14 points followed by Erin Norling with 12 and Kylie Hammer with 11. Jessie Geer, who entered the game averaging just 5.6 points a contest, paced the Cougars in scoring with 26 points, including 20 in the first half. Kaely Hummel also reached double figures for USF with 12 points.
Norling led the Wildcats in rebounds with seven. Halley Busse and Andrea Larson each handed out four assists while Bongartz was credited with four blocked shots.
In the men’s matchup, Wayne State rallied from a 16-point deficit with just over 12 minutes remaining and tied the score at 71-71 with under two minutes to play, but host Sioux Falls made plays down the stretch to fend off the Wildcat rally and registered a 77-71 win.
The Wildcats (10-3, 5-2 NSIC) opened the game making three of their first six shots and held an 8-6 lead at the 15:07 mark. That would be the final lead of the night for Wayne State, as the Wildcats went ice cold from the field for the next 10 minutes, going 1-of-16 and trailing by as many as 15 before cutting the deficit to five at the half.
Sioux Falls wasted little time regaining momentum to start the second half, scoring the first nine points to push the lead back to double digits at 47-33 before Trevin Joseph ended the scoring surge for the Cougars with a layup at the 16:43 mark.
Wayne State still trailed 58-42 with 12:55 remaining and were down 71-60 with just under five minutes to play when the Wildcats stormed back with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 71-71 with 1:45 to go, thanks to a Kendall Jacks layup, 3-pointers from Jacks and Nick Ferrarini and a Vance Janssen jumper. Wayne State was unable to keep the momentum going, however, as the Cougars were able to make free throws down the stretch to come away with the six-point win.
Joseph paced Wayne State in scoring with a career-high 35 points, hitting 8-of-11 shots from behind the arc. The eight 3-pointers were the most by a Wildcat player since Ryan Rolfzen sank eight 3-pointers vs. Crown College on Nov. 19, 2013. Kendall Jacks also had a big night with 25 points, going 11-of-21 from the field. Drew Guebert led Sioux Falls with 23 points followed by Trevon Evans with 16.
Vance Janssen led Wayne State on the glass with five rebounds. Joseph added five steals in the game while Nick Ferrarini had four assists.
Wayne State will be in action again Saturday at Southwest Minnesota State with games at 4 and 6 p.m. in Marshall, Minn.
