The Wayne State College women’s basketball team split its games this weekend, including an 11th straight win over St. Cloud State University Friday and a loss to Minnesota Duluth Saturday.
 
The Wildcats never trailed in Friday night’s game, beating St. Cloud 75-62 in a dominating performance. The win improved WSC’s overall record to 10-5 in conference play.
 
“I thought we executed on both ends of the floor,” Head Coach Chris Kielsmeier said.
 
The ‘Cats jumped out to a 7-0 head start in the first quarter and closed with a 20-12 lead.
 
“It shows a commitment to excellence and success, year in and year out,” Kielsmeier said.
 
WSC shot over 50 percent from the floor for the fourth time this season, hitting 29 of 57 shots from the field.
 
“We knew they were going to switch man to zone. We did a good job of playing insideout, we had really good ball movement,” Kielsmeier said.
 
Paige Ballinger led WSC in scoring with 21 points, going 8 of 18 from the floor. She added six rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots to fill out the stat sheet.
 
The ‘Cats were all over the court on defense, holding SCSU to only 33 percent shooting from the field.
 
Betsy MacDonald led SCSU in scoring with 17 points.
 
Saturday’s game against Minnesota Duluth didn’t turn out as well for WSC, as the ‘Cats fell 64-52 to the northern rivals.
 
WSC dropped to 15-6 overall and 10-6 in conference play.
 
“This team has struggled with consistency all year,” Kielsmeier said. “Until we become more consistent we won’t become the team we can be.”
 
WSC shot over 36 percent from the field and 2 of 12 from behind the 3-point line.
 
Ballinger led Wayne with a double-double, contributing 20 points and 11 boards.
 
Taylor Meyer scored a game-high 21 points for UMD, with Anna Monke following her with 15 points.
 
WSC will be back on its home floor this weekend, hosting Bemidji State Friday at 6 p.m. and Minnesota Crookston Saturday at 4 p.m.