WSC’s women’s basketball team ended their regular season on Saturday with a 73-49 victory over Upper Iowa.

 
The Wildcats finished the regular season 16-11 and 13-9 in NSIC play. WSC finished in fourth place in the south division and earned a first-round home game, which will take place tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m.

 
“We’ve just been a really inconsistent basketball team,” head coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “We have also gotten beat by some pretty good teams.”

 
This past weekend, the Wildcats hosted Winona State and Upper Iowa on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The ‘Cats pulled out a victory over Upper Iowa, but couldn’t beat Winona State.

 
The first game of the weekend was against eighth-ranked Winona State. WSC fell short in this game, 73-55, despite Maggie Schulte’s 23 points.

 
Winona State earned the top seed in the south division of the NSIC conference tournament.

 
Wayne State shot a mere 31 percent from the field in the loss.

 
“We just haven’t played well enough when we have lost,” Kielsmeier said. “We haven’t shot the ball very well when we’ve lost.”

 
The Warriors did not trail in the matchup, taking an early 14-4 lead. WSC closed the first quarter trailing 20-17. The Wildcats got within one point late in the first half, but WSU used a 6-0 run to finish the period ahead 36-29.

 
Winona State built its lead to 12 at the start of the second half, putting the game out of reach. The ‘Cats could not cut the deficit to single digits the remainder of the game. During the fourth quarter, the Warriors maintained their lead, keeping the game out of reach.

 
“Our players just need to play confident and be the type of players they are capable of being,” Kielsmeier said.

 
Senior Sadie Murren scored 20 points in her final regular season game in Rice Auditorium as the ‘Cats sealed the 2015-16 regular season with the victory over Upper Iowa on Senior Day.

 
The ‘Cats came out of the gates hot, taking a 16-5 lead with less than five minutes gone by. WSC continued to dominate in the first quarter, leading 31-7 after ten minutes of play. WSC slowed slightly, but still outscored the Peacocks 16-11 in the second quarter. The Wildcats led 47-18 at halftime.

 
During the first half the Wildcats shot the ball really well, making 66 percent of their shots.

 
“When we have won, we have played a lot better, and we have shot better,” Kielsmeier said.

 
WSC was outscored by Upper Iowa 31-26 in the second half, but the 29-point lead they had at halftime was too much for the Peacocks.

 
To add to Murren’s 20, Schulte scored an efficient 16 points.

 
The Wildcats start the postseason hosting the University of Mary on Wednesday at 7 p.m. This season the Wildcats are 1-0 against the Marauders.
“We need to play really well on the offensive end,” Kielsmeier said. “We need to defend Brittney Dietz. She is a heck of a player. We need to shoot the ball really well.”

Box Scores
Winona State     20  16  21  16   73
At Wayne State  17  12   6   20  55
WSU: Nagle 7-13 6-12 0-0 20, Timmerman 5-13 0-1 2-2 12, McGlone 5-8 0-0 2-2 12, Roelofs 2-7 0-3 4-4 8, Weiland 4-6 0-0 0-0 8, Foley 2-7 1-5 0-0 5, Wirth 1-2 0-0 2-2 4, Tuttle 0-0 0-0 2-2 2, Scaefer 1-4 0-0 0-0 2.
WSC: Schulte 9-17 1-4 4-4 23, Bretoi 3-7 2-6 0-0 8, Moore 1-2 1-2 4-4 7, Lowe 2-8 2-8 1-2 7, Martensen 2-6 0-0 0-0 4, Murren 1-9 0-7 0-0 2, O’Connor 0-4 0-1 2-2 2, Davis 0-0 0-0 2-2
Upper Iowa           7   11  14  17  49
At Wayne State    31  16  12  14  73

UIU: Kieffer 7-19 2-3 2-2 18, Cleaver 4-11 1-3 4-6 13, Ofstad 1-5 0-3 0-0 2, Benson 1-4 0-0 0-2 2, Pagel 1-3 0-0 0-0 2, Grabau 3-8 0-1 0-0 6, Meier 0-2 0-1 2-2 2, Fitzpatrick 1-3 0-1 0-0 2, Martin 1-5 0-0 0-0 2.
WSC: Murren 7-11 2-4 4-6 20, Schulte 7-9 1-1 1-2 16, Martensen 4-7 0-0 2-3 10, Moore 2-5 2-5 0-0 6, Reiner 3-4 0-0 0-0 6, Peterson 4-7 0-0 1-2 9, O’Connor 1-1 1-1 1-2 4, Lowe 1-1 0-0 0-0 2