WINONA, Minn. – The No. 16 Winona State women's basketball team turned over Viterbo 29 times en route to an 89-33 win Saturday afternoon in McCown Gym.
Thanks to WSU's smothering defense, the turnover differential – 29-6 – resulted in 35 more shot attempts for the Warriors, who made 37-of-75 shots while the V-Hawks made just 12-of-40.
The Warriors turned in a balanced offensive performance, with five scorers reaching double figures. Senior Emily Passint led all scorers with 14 points in just 14 minutes, hitting six of eight shots including a 3-pointer along with three steals.
Alexis Foley scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range and a game-high four steals. Connor Nagle hit four of six shots from the field including a trio of 3-pointers to score 13 points, while Hannah McGlone and freshman Kayla Schaefer each added 10. McGlone finished just shy of a double-double, adding a game-high nine rebounds to the stat sheet.
The Warriors jumped out to quick leads of 15-2 and 23-4 after a layup by Shaefer and a second from Shaefer just before the end of the first quarter gave WSU a 27-9 lead.
A 10-0 run to start the second quarter capped off by a Nagle 3-point shot extended the lead to 37-9 and Shaefer hit her second straight shot to end a quarter to put the Warriors up 51-13 at the half, outscoring the V-Hawks 24-4 in the second quarter.
WSU opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer from Foley and soon after she hit a jumper to end a 10-2 run that put WSU up 61-15 to begin the quarter. The Warriors upped its lead to 50, 68-18, when Emily Passint converted a 3-point play with 2:08 to play in the third and a 3-pointer from Passint at the third quarter buzzer made it 73-24.
WSU's largest lead of the game was 57 on a layup from Jenny Weiland – who had eight points in the game – with 2:29 to play to extend the lead to 89-32 before a free throw from the V-Hawks – who made just four of 13 shots from the charity stripe – made it an 89-33 final.
The Warriors shot 49 percent from the field as 11 of 12 Warriors scored in the game.
Winona State (6-0) closes out nonconference action Tuesday against Loras College with a 7 p.m. tipoff in McCown Gymnasium.