The Wayne State women continued their hot streak in Northern Sun Conference play with an 87-82 win over Northern State on Friday, while the men came up short in a 76-66 loss to the Huskies at Rice Auditorium.
In the women’s game, Wayne State came out on fire and jumped on the Huskies for a quick 15-2 advantage. Wayne native Katie Hoskins led the surge with eight points and Kacie O’Connor scored seven to get the Wildcats to the big early lead that they’d never relinquish.
Wayne State led 20-12 after one period and got the lead back up to 13 on a Paige Ballinger basket and a 3-pointer by Maggie Schulte, but Northern State chipped away at the lead and cut it to six at the half, 37-31.
Wayne State rebuilt the lead to 10 points early in the third, but the visitors had one last blast in them as they used a 10-1 run to get the lead down to a single point at 50-49. Wayne State responded with a run of their own, with Schulte’s 3-pointer giving Wayne State a 10-point lead and they weould not be threatened again, going 14-of-15 at the free throw line in the final period to finish off their eighth straight win and improve to 13-3 overall and 8-3 in the NSIC.
O’Connor and Ballinger both finished with a season-high 25 points, and Hoskins also had a season-high with 145 points to lead the Wildcats. Schulte had six rebounds and three steals, while Haley Moore had six assists.
In men’s action, the Wildcats couldn’t overcome a poor-shooting second half as the visiting Huskies pulled away down the stretch to pick up the win, dropping Wayne State to 5-12 overall and 3-8 in the NSIC.
Wayne State battled their guests tough throughout the first half, taking a 19-17 lead on two Brian Goodwin free throws with 7:41 to go in the half. The game was close throughout the opening 20 minutes, and Northern State took a 31-29 lead on a late layup to close out the half.
Northern State opened the second half with a 14-6 run to take control of the game. Luke TerHark hit a 3-pointer to get the Wildcats within seven at 45-38, but Northern scored the next seven points and the Wildcats never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
TerHark scored a career-high 16 points to lead the Wildcats, while Kendall Jacks finished with 15 points. Jordan Cornelius grabbed six rebounds to lead the Wayne State defense.
Wayne State hosts MSU Moorhead on Saturday. The women face the 18th-ranked Dragons at 4 p.m., with the men’s game to follow at 6 p.m.
