With first home contests approaching, Wayne State College basketball will open their 2024-25 seasons on the road this weekend.
From St. Joseph, Missouri, the Wildcat men’s basketball team will play twice over the weekend during the Missouri Western Classic while the WSC women’s basketball team will have an in-state showdown.
The Friday, November 8 season-opener will showcase Wildcat men’s basketball against Emporia State at 10 a.m. WSC will also face Northwest Missouri State on Sunday, November 10 at 2 p.m.
Earlier in October, the NSIC preseason rankings had Wayne State College listed as 12th with 57 points. Senior guard Jay Saunders was listed as the Wildcat Player to Watch this season.
The Wildcat men return three starters from last year’s team that was 16-14 overall and 9-13 in NSIC games.
Minnesota State-Mankato, who won last year’s NSIC regular season title, edged MSU Moorhead as the team to beat in the NSIC this season. The Mavericks received 186 points and eight first-place ballots with MSU Moorhead right behind in second at 183 points and six first-place votes. Minnesota Duluth came in third with 172 points and the remaining first-place vote with Southwest Minnesota State (152) and Bemidji State (121) rounding out the top five teams.
Saunders, a 5-11 senior guard from Omaha (Omaha South HS), started 28 of 29 games last season and averaged 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He ranked fourth in the NSIC last year in steals (41) and fourth in the league last season in assist/turnover ratio at 2.2 (72 assists/33 turnovers).
For the Wayne State College women, their season-opener will be on Saturday, November 9 at Chadron State College. Tipoff will be at 1 p.m.
Earlier in October the NSIC preseason rankings had WSC listed as 13th with 45 points. Senior forward Maya Fitzpatrick was listed as the Wildcat Player to Watch this season.
The Wildcat women return four starters from last year’s team that was 7-18 overall and 4-18 in the NSIC.
Defending NSIC Minnesota State-Mankato was listed as the team to beat this season collecting 12 first-place votes and 194 points. Northern State was second with the remaining three first-place votes and 184 points. Concordia-St. Paul (162), Southwest Minnesota State (147) and St. Cloud State (131) close out the top five teams.
Fitzpatrick, a 5-10 senior from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (Champlin Park HS), is Wayne State’s top returning scorer at 9.5 points per game. She led the Wildcats last season in steals (59), assists (58) and blocked shots (19), ranking third in the NSIC in steals per game and 12th in blocked shots. Fitzpatrick shot 37.9 percent (81-214) from the field and 84.8 percent (56-66) at the free throw line.
First home action for the Wildcats will be on Friday, November 15 as the WSC men will host Barclay College at 6:30 p.m. as the Wayne State College women (and men) will entertain Nebraska-Kearney on Wednesday, November 20 at 5:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. for men).
