St. Cloud State opened the second half with a 12-0 run and used that run to end Wayne State College's season Wednesday in a 75-62 decision Wednesday in the opening round of the Northern Sun Conference women’s basketball tournament in St. Cloud, Minn.
The game opened with a high-scoring tempo that featured six lead changes, but the hot-shooting Huskies connected on 6-of-11 from the 3-point line and closed the first quarter strong with a 26-18 lead.
Wayne State was down 14-10, but used a 3-pointer from Erin Norling, an Awoti Akoi layup and 3-pointer from Haley Vesey to take an 18-17 lead before the Huskies rebounded with three treys to take the lead.
The Huskies built their lead to 11 in the second quarter at 34-23, but Wayne State closed with a Kylie Hammer layup and eight straight points from Norling to cut the Husky advantage to 36-33 at intermission.
St. Cloud State (20-7) opened the third quarter with a 12-0 scoring surge in the first 2:37 to take their biggest lead of the night at 48-33. Wayne State was able to get to within eight at the end of the third quarter and was as close as six before the Huskies rebounded and pulled away with the win.
Norling led Wayne State College in scoring with 18 points followed by Autumn Mlinar with 11. Madelin Dammann poured in a game-high 20 points, 14 in the first quarter, to lead St. Cloud State in scoring. Brehna Evans added 18 points while Tori Wortz (15) and Nikki Kilboten (13) also reached double digits.
Wayne State held a 42-27 advantage in rebounding that included 16 offensive rebounds. Norling grabbed eight boards for the Wildcats (16-13) while Mlinar added six caroms. Halley Busse, Hammer and Josey Ryan each had four assists while Busse was credited with four steals.
