Wayne State used better than 50 percent shooting to stay in the game with St. Cloud State, but 22 Wildcat turnovers resulted in a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers for the visiting Huskies as St. Cloud State earned a hard fought 72-64 NSIC women’s basketball win over Wayne State Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The host Wildcats have now dropped five straight games, falling to 7-9 and 4-8 in the NSIC South, while St. Cloud State improves to 13-3 and 11-2 in league play.
A tightly contested first quarter saw neither team hold a lead of more than three points as Wayne State closed with a 21-18 lead. Senior point guard Kylie Hammer had 13 first quarter points, making all four shots from the field and all four free throws as WSC opened the game shooting 57 percent in the first 10 minutes.
The game stayed close in the second quarter as the Huskies built a five point lead at 28-23 with 6:00 to go in the half. WSC then used 3-pointers from Hammer and Lauren Zacharias to gain a 29-28 lead and the Wildcats used a layup from Zacharias in the final 30 seconds of the half to give WSC a 34-33 lead at intermission.
Both teams scored 22 points in the third quarter as neither team led by more than four points. WSC held four point leads at 46-42 and 48-44 and ended the third period with a slim 56-55 lead as the ‘Cats sank 9 of 15 shots in the quarter to stay even with the Huskies.
WSC maintained the lead early in the fourth quarter, but could not overcome stellar shooting by St. Cloud State in the fourth quarter (7 of 11 for 63 percent).
The final lead for WSC came at 60-59 on a Kassidy Pingel layup with 7:07 to play. The Huskies scored the next five points to take the lead for good.
A Maya Fitzpatrick basket with 4:12 to play cut the SCSU lead to two at 64-62, but the ‘Cats could not score again until a Hammer layup with 28 seconds to play and St. Cloud State finished with a 72-64 victory.
Hammer scored a game-high 27 points for Wayne State, going 9 of 12 from the field and 6 of 7 at the charity stripe while making all three of her 3-pointers. Zacharias also hit double figures with 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting.
For the game, Wayne State made 26 of 51 shots for a season-best 51 percent. The ‘Cats were 6 for 15 from 3-point range and 6 of 8 at the foul line.
Nikki Kilboten poured in 24 points for St. Cloud State. Tori Wortz and Brehna Evans also hit double figures with 12 and 10 respectively.
St. Cloud State shot 48.2 percent on 27 of 56 shooting. The Huskies were 5 of 17 from the 3-point line and 13 of 19 at the free throw line.
The Huskies held a 31-26 edge in rebounding over WSC despite seven rebounds from Zacharias.
WSC had six more turnovers than SCSU, 22-16, allowing the Huskies to finish with a 20-7 edge in points off turnovers.
Tate Norblade and Abby Kopecky each had three assists while Norblade and Zacharias were credited with two steals apiece.
The Wildcats will be at home again Saturday afternoon hosting Minnesota Duluth at 3:30 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.
