BISMARCK, N.D. – The Wayne State women picked up their first Northern Sun Conference win of the season Friday while the Wildcat men came up short on the road at University of Mary.
In the women’s game, Maggie Lowe came off the bench and scored a career-high 12 points and Anna Martensen added a dozen points as well to help the Wildcats to a 63-47 win over the Marauders.
Both teams struggled in the early going, but Wayne State didn’t give up the lead after the first quarter, taking a 23-20 lead into the locker room.
Wayne State doubled their point total in the third quarter, extended their lead to as many as 12 points going to the final period. Evelyn Knox and Lowe, who both hit 3-pointers to help the Wildcats build that advantage, opened the fourth quarter with two more treys to make it a 52-36 game. Wayne State led by as many as 19 midway through the final period before settling on the 16-point victory.
Lowe and Martensen led three Wildcats in double figures followed by Knox, who finished with a career-high 10 points. Gabbie Bohl scored 13 and Cassie Askvig added 11 for Mary.
Martensen led the Wayne State rebounding effort with seven rebounds and also had four steals. Kacie O’Connor, Haley Moore and Maggie Schulte each had four assists, while Taylor Wangering and Taylor Reiner both had three blocked shots for the WIldcats, who improved to 6-3 overall and 1-3 in NSIC play.
In men’s action, the host Marauders used an 11-0 run midway through the second half to take control and come away with an 85-78 win over the Wildcats, dropping the Wayne State men to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in NSIC action.
The Wildcats got out to an 8-0 lead early before the Marauders rallied to take an 18-16 lead about nine minutes into the first half. Wayne State came back to take a 30-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Brian Goodwin with 6:23 to go in the half, but Mary came back to take a 37-36 lead into the locker room.
The Marauders got out to a seven-point advantage early in the second half, but Tony Bonner’s jumper with 13:29 go helped the Wildcats pull even with Mary at 48-48.
That’s as close as Wayne State would get, however. J.J. Zumbrennen’s 3-pointer with 10:33 to go made it 56-54 in favor of Mary, but the Marauders responded with an 11-point surge to take control of the game and Wayne State never got closer than seven after that.
All five Wildcat starters finished in double figures, led by Kendall Jacks’ 17 points. Vance Janssen added 13 points, Goodwin and Jordan Cornelius each had 11 and Matt Thomas scored 10.
Goodwin led the Wildcats in rebounds with six and also had four assists and three steals.
Wayne State is on the road Saturday to face Minot State. The women’s game starts at 4 p.m., with the men’s game to follow at 6 p.m.
