The WSC’s women’s basketball team split a pair of games at home over the weekend. The Wildcats lost to Concordia-St. Paul 74-59 on Friday—only their eighth loss at Rice Auditorium in the past seven seasons—then beat Minnesota State-Mankato 89-70 on Saturday.

 
After trailing Concordia-St. Paul early in the first quarter 10-5, the ‘Cats tied it up at 16 all with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter. The Wildcats went on a 10-3 run to close out the quarter, leading 28-19.

 
The second quarter saw WSC score first, but then Concordia-St. Paul surged back to tie it up at 30 apiece with six and a half minutes to play in the period. The Golden Bears took a 44-41 lead into halftime.

 
The Wildcats saw the game start to slip out of reach in the third quarter, as the ‘Cats only scored one field goal. WSC trailed after three, 58-48.

 
WSC started the fourth quarter with a layup to get within eight, but that was as closer as they would get for the remainder of the game.

 
WSC, which shot just 27 percent from the field, was led by Maggie Schulte with 15 points. Anna Martensen had her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

 
The ‘Cats used career highs of 23 points and 13 assists by Sadie Murren to take down Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday night. The Wildcats never trailed in the game as they improved their overall record to 5-3.

 
The first quarter saw the Wildcats take a 9-2 lead, then later in quarter go on a 16-0 run to take the lead 27-8. WSC finished out the quarter leading 32-14.

 
During the second quarter, WSC saw their lead shrink to eight, but only momentarily, as they pushed their lead back up to 18 at halftime, leading 52-34.

 
The Wildcats scored 19 in the third period to take a 71-52 lead to the fourth quarter.

 
WSC saw their lead get as large as 26, but ended the game winning by 19 points. Ballinger had a game-high 24 points, her third time scoring 20 points this season. Murren added her 23 points and 13 assists.

 
The Wildcats head on the road this weekend for a pair of NSIC games against Minnesota Crookston on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday.