Box Score

MARSHALL, MINN. - Wayne State held off a late Southwest Minnesota State surge to hand the Mustangs a 62-52 conference loss Saturday night in Marshall.

The Wildcats improve to 10-8 (7-4 NSIC); the Mustangs drop to 10-11 (2-9 NSIC).

Abby Oakland was a career high six-of-eleven from behind the arc to finish with a game-high 20 points for SMSU.   Sara Leidall added another 15.

WSC had four players score in double digits as Clare Duwliuis finished with a team-high 17 points, Laquisha Cook had 15 and Julie Ann Wagner and Mara Hjelle each had 10.

The Wildcats' zone defense proved hard to crack for the Mustangs as SMSU struggled to find an open shot down low and scored a season-low eight points in the paint.

The first and only lead SMSU saw all night was six minutes into the opening half when Oakland connected on her first trey of the evening to break a 4-4 tie.  The Mustangs held a lead for the next minute and a half, but a Cook jumper broke another tie at 11-11.

The momentum leaned in the visiting team's favor for the remainder of the second half; WSC built three separate leads of ten, the last coming just before the first half expired.

Forced to play catch-up, the Mustangs were not able to get within double digits until 13 minutes into the second half, finally cutting the deficit to eight via a Tori Fink three pointer.  From there SMSU would chip away, getting within two at 50-48 with 5:34 remaining.

Cook then nailed another jumper to put the Wildcats up by four.  Leidall answered with a jumper of her own, narrowing the deficit to two again.  But a 10-2 run by the Wildcats  in the final three minutes was the spoiler for a Hawaiian Night comeback.

The loss was SMSU's fourth straight.  The Mustangs shot just six free throws on the evening, connecting on half of them.

SMSU opens a four-game road stand next weekend, traveling to Minnesota, Duluth on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday.