The WSC men’s basketball team went 1-1 in the Sanford Pentagon Showcase on Saturday and Sunday with a win against New York Institute of Technology and a tough loss versus Missouri Southern State.

“We came away with a win, but it would have been nice to win both games,” said Vance Janssen, junior guard. “The second game was a heartbreaker.”

The first half against NYIT was a close affair and a sloppy one. Both teams had multiple turnovers as the half ended 30 to 26 in favor of the Wildcats. The second half was much cleaner for WSC. WSC scored 30 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half and outscored the Bears by 17. The Wildcats came away with a 78-57 win.

Kendall Jacks lead paced WSC with 20 points, 17 coming in the second half.

The Saturday game was against Missouri Southern.

“That one hurt,” said Luke Terhark, sophomore guard. “We just need to forget about that one and get ready for conference play.”

The score went back and forth all game with 15 ties and 10 lead changes.

Missouri Southern took an eight-point lead with 1:55 left to play, making that their biggest lead of the game. WSC rallied back and tied the game at 77 with 5.8 seconds left with a three-pointer from Trevin Joseph. Braelon Walker took the ball the length of the floor and drove for a left-handed layup with 0.8 seconds left to take a two-point lead and win the game for Missouri Southern.

Kendall Jacks led the Wildcats with 23 points while Kinzer Lambert had 22 for Missouri Southern.

WSC moved to 4-2 overall heading into their first conference double header against Minot and Mary next weekend.

The WSC women’s team also was in action over the break. They went 2-0 with wins over Peru State and UC-Colorado Springs. WSC breezed past Peru State on Friday with an 88-48 win.

The Wildcats never trailed as the bench produced 60 of their 88 points including a combined 34 from freshmen Halley Busse and Haley Vesey.

Wayne was 33 of 66, shooting 50 percent going 11-31 from three.

Halley Busse led the cats with 20 points going a perfect 7-7 from the field.

The Wildcats also won on Sunday against Colorado Springs with a final score of 74-51.

“Overall, we improved as a team,” said Evelyn Knox, sophomore guard. “Our big focus for the game was defense and that helped us win the game.”

Wayne again led from start to finish including leading 22-8 in the first quarter and held a 19 point lead heading into halftime after a layup from Erin Nordling.

WSC had an 18-13 advantage in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 60-36 while the reserves finished out the game ending at 74-51. Nordling led all scorers with 15 points as WSC shot 49 percent for the game.

The Wildcats move to 6-3 overall and their next games are this weekend against Minot and Mary on Friday and Saturday.