The Wayne State women picked up a pair of key wins last week, defeating MSU Moorhead and Northern State in action at Rice Audtiorium.
On Friday, the Wildcats exploded to a 28-point lead early in the second quarter, then held off a furious MSU Moorhead rally in the second half to claim a 78-73 win over the Dragons.
The Wildcats came out on fire, building a 31-10 lead in the first quarter thanks to 6-of-11 shooting from behind the arc in the opening 10 minutes. Halley Busse and Erin Norling hit double figures in the opening quarter with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Wayne State continued their torrid shooting the second quarter and once held a 41-13 lead as they shot 51.5 percent from the floor before closing the first half with a 46-26 lead at intermission.
As hot as the Wildcats were in the first half, they cooled off and allowed the visiting Dragons to storm back, cutting a 20-point deficit to four going to the final quarter and actually taking the lead at 64-62 with 5:44 to go.
Wayne State gained the lead back on a Kylie Hammer 3-pointer and went up by three on an Erin Norling basket at 67-64. Moorhead got within one with 2:23 to go, but a basket by Brittany Bongartz and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line helped the Wildcats pull away with the win.
Norling led Wayne State with her fourth double-double of the year – 20 points and 10 rebounds – followed by Busse with 19. Hammer also reached double digits with 12 points. Busse was credited with four assists and had four steals.
On Saturday, Busse scored a season-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting to power the Wildcats past Northern State, 79-67.
After Northern State opened with the first four points of the game, Wayne State used a 13-2 run to take the lead for good the rest of the first half. A Kylie Hammer fast-break layup gave Wayne State a 13-6 lead at the 4:55 mark and the Wildcats closed the first quarter with an 18-14 lead.
The Wildcats increased the lead to 11 at 30-19 following a Haley Vesey 3-pointer with 3:35 to play in the half. Northern got within five at 30-25 before the Wildcats ended the half with a 35-28 lead.
The Wolves came out hot in the third quarter and used a 11-0 run to turn a 40-33 Wayne State lead into a Northern State advantage of 44-40 with 5:09 left in the quarter, but Wayne State responded and scored the final seven points of the quarter to grab a 58-50 lead and went on to earn the win over the Wolves.
Busse paced Wayne State with her season-best effort of 25 points, going 8-of-12 from the field, 4-for-6 behind the arc and 5-6 at the charity stripe. Norling added 18 points, her 36th consecutive game of double figure scoring. Bongartz also hit double digits with 10 points. Bongartz grabbed nine boards twith Norling and Josey Ryan added eight rebounds apiece. Norling and Kylie Hammer were each credited with four assists.
The Wildcats (13-5, 8-4 NSIC) will be on the road next weekend for NSIC South Division games at Minnesota State Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. contest.
