Box Score

WAYNE, Neb. – Wayne State used a fourth quarter rally to pull away and defeat Southwest Minnesota State 72-67 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball at Rice Auditorium on Friday night.
 
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for WSC and improves to 14-13 overall, 9-12 NSIC. It was also WSC's 20^th straight victory over SMSU since the Mustangs' last victory on Feb. 25, 2009.
 
SMSU drops to 12-14 overall, 9-12 NSIC. WSC holds the tiebreaker over SMSU in the NSIC South Division standings due to beating SMSU twice this season.
 
Caleigh Rodning scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Mustangs, while Abuk Akoi added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sadie Stelter scored 12 points on four 3-pointers, while Erin Baxter chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
SMSU held a lead for more than half the game, building its largest lead of the first half at 28-20 with six minutes left in the first half following a jumper from Akoi.
 
WSC would cut the deficit to two points, but Rodnign hit a pair of free throws with in the final minute to give SMSU a 33-28 halftime lead.
 
Stelter drilled a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to push the SMSU lead to eight points before WSC rallied to take the lead at 39-38 at the 5:51 mark of the third. Jenna Borchers gave SMSU the advantage back with a 3-pointer and the lead would eventually move to 48-42 with 3:19 remaining after a field goal by Akoi.
 
Once again WSC rallied and would tie the game at 51 with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter.
 
Akoi would give SMSU a 58-56 lead with 5:47 left in the game, but it was the Mustangs' final lead of the night as WSC answered with three straight 3-pointers to take a 65-58 advantage with 4:14 remaining.
 
SMSU would go more than three and a half minutes without scoring as WSC pushed the margin to 67-58 with three minutes on the clock. Stelter ended the drought with a 3-pointer with two minutes left to make the score 67-61.
 
SMSU would later cut the deficit to 70-67 following a Sarah Buysse 3-pointer with 22 seconds left, but WSC answered with two free throws to seal the victory.  
 
Southwest Minnesota State concludes the regular season on Saturday facing Augustana University at 3:30 p.m. at the Elmen Center on AU's campus.