The Wayne State women’s basketball team got back on the winning track Saturday, while the Wildcat men came up short in their push for a weekend road sweep at Upper Iowa.
The Wildcat women outscored the Peacocks 28-19 in the fourth quarter to come from behind and claim a 73-64 win, improving to 14-5 overall and 9-5 in Northern Sun Conference action.
The Wildcats got out to a 17-12 lead after one period despite going the last six minutes of the first period without a basket. Katie Hoskins’ jumper with 3:43 minutes to go in the second quarter ended a 12 1/2-minute drought, but Wayne State led by seven before the Peacocks cut the lead to two, 24-22, at the half.
The lead changed sides several times in the second half. Upper Iowa got its biggest lead of the game at 45-40 with 1:44 to go in the third period, but the Wildcats responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Maggie Schulte hit a 3-pointer and Kacie O’Connor added a basket to tie the game at 45-45 going to the fourth, and Hoskins’ basket was followed by a Haley Moore trey to open the final period to make it 50-45.
Upper Iowa did tie the game at 50-50 with 7:29 to go, but the Wildcats put the game out of reach with a 14-4 run and came away with the road win.]
O’Connor led four Wildcats in double figures with 19 points. Schulte and Paige Ballinger each had 13 points, while Moore put in 11. Schulte had six rebounds and Hoskins added five. Moore had five assists and three steals, while Ballinger had two blocked shots.
In the men’s game, the Wildcats scored just one basket in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the game after battling back from a nine-point deficit, allowing the host Peacocks to break a 62-62 tie and come away with a 77-72 win.
The game was tight throughout the firs thalf, with neither team leading by more than five points. Austin Esters got the Wildcats a 15-10 advantage with a 3-pointer, and later in the half it was Luke TerHark hitting back-to-back threes to get Wayne State back in front at 21-16. Upper Iowa countered with a 10-2 run to take a 26-23 advantage, and the teams continued to trade leads before Wayne State took a 39-37 advantage into the locker room.
In the second half, Upper Iowa opened with a 13-2 run to take a nine-point advantage. Wayne State came back to tie the score at 62-62 on a Vance Janssen jumper with 6:23 to go, but that would be the last Wildcat basket until the closing seconds as Upper Iowa came away with the iwn.
TerHark scored a career-high 20 points, Kendall Jacks added 18 and Esters put in 13 and grabbed eight rebounds for the Wildcats, who fell to 6-14 overall and 4-9 in NSIC play.
Both teams are back on the road next weekend, facing St. Cloud State on Friday and Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.
