MANKATO, Minn. – Four Warriors scored in double figures but it wasn't enough as Minnesota State used a strong second-half comeback to down the Winona State women's basketball team 71-66 in overtime Friday night at the Taylor Center in Mankato.
Early on it looked like it would be WSU's night as the Warriors had a phenomenal first half in which it had as much as a 14 point lead. The Warriors would cling to a lead until a furious Maverick rally tied the score for the first time with just 2:27 to play in the game on Aubrey Davis 3-pointer. Their first lead came moments later when she hit a pair of free throws, but Hannah McGlone answered for the Warriors to tie it at 62-62 and a strong defensive effort forced overtime.
Minnesota State came out hot to start the extra five minutes, scoring the first five points capped off by a Sammie Delzotto 3-pointer. Delzotto then hit another jumper – a shot that gave her 22 points on the game – to take a 69-66 lead and a pair of Davis free throws iced the comeback and gave the Mavericks the hard-fought 71-66 win.
Connor Nagle sparked the Warriors' hot start to the game, hitting a 3-pointer followed by a jumper to give the team a quick 5-0 lead. Alexis Foley then hit a 3-point shot before the Warriors forced an air ball on the other end.
Moments later, Nagle hit her second 3-pointer of the half and then Tara Roelofs connected on a jumper to give the Warriors a 15-6 lead at the first media timeout thanks to WSU making six of its first eight shots from the field.
Coming out of the timeout, Nagle connected on a trio of free throws to give her 11 points in the game with 13:25 to play and put the Warriors up 18-6. By the 9:34 mark the Warriors had still doubled up the Mavericks, shooting 9-of-16 from the field to take a 24-12 advantage.
Roelofs continued her strong play in the later stages of the first half, recording three straight baskets to bring the Warrior lead to 33-22 and the Warriors added one more basket to head into the locker room with a 13-point, 35-22 lead.
Hannah McGlone was a force defensively, bringing down seven rebounds in the first half. The Warriors shot 48.3 percent while holding the Mavericks to just 30 percent. Nagle led all scorers with 11 points, Roelofs and Kayla Timmerman each had eight and Foley had seven to pace the Warriors while no Maverick had more than six points.
The Warriors' hot start would fizzle out in the second half, as the Warriors made just 6-of-22 shots from the field (27.3 percent) in the second half and connected on just one of four shots in the extra period.
MSU used an 8-2 start to the half as the Warriors made just two of its first eight shots, but a Foley 3-point play still kept the Warriors up by 10 at 44-34 with just over 14 minutes to play. But a MSU 3-pointer brought it to 44-39 and later 46-41 as MSU would methodically chip away and eventually catch up to the Warriors.
Foley led the Warriors with 19 points in the game on 8-of-17 shooting, while Roelofs finished with 14 points, Nagle with 13 points and Timmerman with 12. The duo of McGlone and Timmerman lit up the defensive stat sheet, as McGlone finished with a career-high 14 rebounds – the most from a Warrior this season. Timmerman also tied a career high and WSU season high with six blocks.
Winona State (17-6, 13-6 NSIC) heads to Concordia-St. Paul Saturday for its final regular season road game with a 4 p.m. tipoff against the Golden Bears in the Gangelhoff Center.
