The Wayne State College women’s basketball team defeated the Newman University Jets 99-90 Friday afternoon in the Rice Auditorium.  

The Jets started the game off well scoring 3-0 and 5-4 before the Wildcats scored six points to take the lead for the remainder of the game at 10-5. By the end of the first quarter the Wildcats were up 27-14, a 13-point lead.  

The Jets scored the first basket of the second quarter at 9:38, making it 27-16. The Wildcats went on a rally to score 11 points making it 38-16 before the Jets took a timeout with 7:32 left in the second quarter.  

The Wildcats got a 21-point lead of 45-24 with 3:59 left in the half before the Jets scored eight making it 45-32.  

“We had a spell in the second where we kind of quit doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Head Coach Pollari said. “I think we were up by 20 some points and decided that we didn’t need to do what got us those points.” 

The score at the end of the half was 47-34. The Jets closed the gap to a 13-point game. 

The Wildcats kept a double-digit lead in the third quarter until the final few minutes. With 4:30 left in the third quarter, Logan Hughes stole the ball and took it all the way to the basket. 

The Wildcats maintained a bigger lead as time expired, but the Jets played hard.  The score at the end of the third quarter, 67-56, brought it to an 11-point lead for the Wildcats.  

The Jets scored the first three baskets of the fourth quarter bringing it to 67-62, a five-point game. The Jets brought the gap to five points numerous times in the fourth quarter with the last one with 4:44 remaining. The score was 66-47.  

Kassidy Pingel had a three pointer along with Hughes getting a pair of free throws. With a three pointer by Lauren Zacharias with 2:45 remaining, the Wildcats lead by 11 (86-75).  

The Wildcats and the Jets went back and forth scoring till the of the game. The final score was 99-90, a win for the Wildcats.  

After a first win,  Pollari was glad about how the first game of the season went.  

“Pretty good, you can kind of see our style has evolved into kind of where I’ve wanted it to get here,” Pollari said. “We still have quite a bit of stuff to clean up here. I thought for most of it we had a pretty good effort.” 

Zacharias was the top scorer with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting.  

“Since everyone knows I can shoot we start to have me not bring the ball up like coach has been wanting and getting me open and setting screens,” Zacharias said.  

Hughes had the second most points with 19 points and Pingel with 12 points in the game.  

The Wildcats shot 29 of 66 from the field for 43.9% and 10 of 30 form the 3-point line. The Wildcats went 31 for 38 for 81.6% at the free throw line. 

The Jets made 26 of 53 for 49% from the field and 8 of 17 3-pointers. Newman was 30 of 38 for 78.9 percent for free throws. The Jets beat the Wildcats in rebounds with 32 rebounds to 29.  

“We shot the ball 13 more times than they did,” Pollari said. “We got a good chance of winning when that happens” 

The WSC Wildcats play Chadron State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Chadron. The game can be watched on the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) network.