Senior forward Logan Hughes scored a game-high 19 points to power Wayne State in a 71-55 victory at the University of Sioux Falls Thursday evening in Northern Sun Conference women’s basketball played at the Stewart Center. The win by WSC snaps a nine-game losing skid to the Cougars dating back to 2018 and gives the Wildcats a 5-1 record and 1-1 mark in the NSIC while USF drops to 3-5 and 0-2 in league play.
WSC held an early 7-4 lead following a Logan Hughes 3-pointer with 5:38 to play in the opening quarter. Sioux Falls then scored eight of the next nine points to take a 12-8 lead. The Cougars still led 14-10 at the 1:36 mark of the quarter when the ‘Cats ended the quarter with four points to tie the score at 14-14. The Wildcats continued their scoring run for the first couple minutes of the second quarter and led 20-14 two minutes into the quarter.
Later in the quarter, WSC scored eight straight points and held USF scoreless for a span of 2:51 and took a 30-18 lead on another Hughes 3-pointer with 3:55 to play before closing the half with a 34-26 advantage.
After USF opened the second half with a basket to cut the WSC lead to six, the ‘Cats scored the next nine points over 3:14 to take a 43-28 lead.
The ‘Cats still held a 13-point lead when Logan Hughes scored seven straight points in just seven seconds on four free throws and a 3-pointer to give Wayne State a 59-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Wildcats maintain their double-digit advantage and WSC closed with the 71-55 win.
Hughes poured in a game-high 19 points in just 15 minutes of playing time to lead the ‘Cats in scoring. She was 5 of 10 from the field and a perfect 6 for 6 at the line. Senior guard Lauren Zacharias also hit double digits with 11.
Wayne State made 23 of 57 shots for 40.4 percent and was 6 for 21 behind the arc. The Wildcats held a sizeable advantage from the free throw line making 19 of 24 (79%) compared to just 4 of 7 for the Cougars. Madison Wuebben scored 14 points for Sioux Falls followed by Olivia Gamoke and Riley Moreland with 10 apiece.
Sioux Falls shot 21 of 53 from the field for 39.6 percent, going 9 of 19 from 3-point range.
Wayne State held a slight 37-35 edge in rebounding over USF thanks to seven boards from freshman Rachel Dahlen. Maya Fitzpatrick had four steals, Dahlen had two blocked shots and Annie Guentzel had two assists.
The Wildcats will be at home Saturday hosting Southwest Minnesota State in an NSIC South Division contest starting at 3:30 p.m.
Sioux Falls rallied from a 47-36 deficit with 13:30 remaining as the Cougars defeated Wayne State College 65-60 Thursday in Northern Sun Conference men’s basketball played at the Stewart Center in Sioux Falls. The host Cougars improve to 6-2 and 1-1 in the league while WSC drops to 6-2 and 1-1 in NSIC play.
The Wildcats opened the contest with a 9-5 lead thanks to a three-point play from sophomore guard Jay Saunders with 15:24 to go in the half. Sioux Falls went on an 11-4 run and took their biggest lead of the first half at three, 16-13, at the 8:43 mark.
WSC came back to tie the score at 21-21 and then scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 30-22 lead following a David Harmon 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the half before Wayne State closed with a 30-25 advantage at intermission.
The ‘Cats started strong in the second half and built a pair of 11 point leads, the first coming on a Jordan Janssen basket with 14:02 to play giving Wayne State a 45-34 lead But Wayne State went cold from the field and did not make a basket for the following 7:50 as the host Cougars came back from a 47-36 deficit to tie the score at 50-50 with 6:28 remaining. A basket from Janssen gave WSC a short-lived 52-50 lead at the 6:12 mark. The final lead for WSC was 53-52 with 5:01 to play after a Cody McCullough free throw.
Sioux Falls took the lead for good on the next possession with a 3-pointer and the Cougars canned 10 of 10 free throws late to hold off Wayne State in the 65-60 come-from-behind win. Janssen made 12 of 18 shots from the field and scored a game-high 27 points for the Wildcats. McCullough was the only other WSC player in double digits with 10. Wayne State shot 39 percent from the field making just 22 of 56 shots. The ‘Cats were 3 for 16 behind the arc and 13 of 15 at the charity stripe. Matt Cartwright scored 21 points for Sioux Falls with Chase Grinde adding 12.
The Cougars made 22 of 54 shots for 40.7 percent and hit 8 of 22 shots from the 3-point line. USF was 13 of 16 at the foul line. Sioux Falls out-rebounded Wayne State 36-29 with McCullough hauling in 10 boards for the ‘Cats. Wayne State will be at home Saturday evening hosting Southwest Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m.
