The Wayne State basketball teams took care of business at home Saturday with wins over Southwest Minnesota State at Rice Auditorium.
In women’s action, Kassidy Pingel put in a game-high 18 points and Lauren Zacharias added 13 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wildcat women handle Southwest, 72-62.
Wayne State trailed early, but used a 12-2 run to end the first quarter to lead 19-15 and never looked back.
Wayne State’s defense slowed the Mustangs down and forced 10 turnovers in the second period, heping Wayne State built a 43-26 lead at the break. They led by has many as 58-37 midway through the third and cruised to the easy win.
The men’s game saw Cody McCullough record a double-double for the second straight outing as the Wildcats handled the Mustangs, 83-62.
Wayne State led from start to finish, highlighted by senior Jordan Janssen, who became the first player in Wildcat history to record 1,000 career rebounds, a mark he hit late in the first half.
Wayne State shot 53.3 percent in the first half to build a 14-point advantage, then used a 7-0 run to start the second half to put the game out of reach.
Janssen and Justin Eagins each had 16 points to lead the Wildcats, while McCullough had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Wayne State goes on the road this weekend for games Friday at Concordia-St. Paul and Saturday at Minnesota State
(Complete stories in this week’s edition of The Wayne Herald.)
