MARSHALL, Minn. - Wayne State's big second half propelled the Wildcats to a 59-40 win over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

After trailing by only two points at halftime, SMSU (4-21, 2-17 NSIC) shot just 23.3 percent (7-30) from the floor in the second half, while only scoring 18 points. Wayne State (15-8, 11-8), on the other hand, exploded in the second half, shooting 57.7 percent (15-26) from the floor, while scoring 35 points to secure their eighth straight victory over the Mustangs. The loss was also the eighth straight loss the Mustangs have suffered at home versus Wayne State. SMSU hasn't defeated WSC at home since the 2004-05 season.

Ellen Degler's 10 points led the way for SMSU as she was the only Mustang to record double-digit score totals.

After trailing 5-0, Hannah Beeler broke the ice and scored SMSU's first three buckets, connecting on the third to put the Mustangs up 6-5. A layup by Alison Nagel with 13:02 remaining grew SMSU's lead to two, the largest lead that the Mustangs would acquire in the half. SMSU's lead would slip as the Wildcats erased the deficit and would go on to grow their lead to the largest of the half -- five points when Addy Roller connected on a layup with 5:38 remaining.

A close contested shot by Mikayla Saathoff with 1:59 remaining found the bottom of the net that trimmed the Wildcat lead to one point. Down 24-22 with seconds remaining in the half, SMSU came up with a defensive stop to halt the Wildcat lead at two.

Wayne State scored the first eleven points in the second half as the Mustangs didn't score until the 15:14 mark in the second half. The Wildcats would never trail by less than ten points for the last 17:14 in the game after only nursing a two-point halftime lead.

SMSU finished the game shooting 32.7 percent (18-55) from the floor, its lowest output since the 79-44 loss to Augustana on Dec. 7, 2012. SMSU attempted just four free throws in the game, connected on three, while the Wildcats finished 4 of 10 from the charity stripe.

SMSU will close-out the 2012-13 home portion of the schedule tomorrow night when the Mustangs host Augustana College (S.D.) at 5 p.m. SMSU will recognize its two senior members of the program that are participating in their last game as Mustangs.