WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State women's basketball team turned in a total team effort Friday night in McCown Gymnasium, taking down NSIC South Division and overall champion and No. 16-ranked Wayne State 69-56 in front of 1,039 fans in McCown Gymnasium.
 
Winona State (19-6, 15-6 NSIC) got a huge performance out of Tara Roelofs, who led the Warriors in double-figures with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from the three-point arc.
 
It was a battle of the best home team in the NSIC against the best road team in the conference. The Warriors had an undefeated home record at 12-0, including a 9-0 mark in conference play. The Wildcats – which won the NSIC South Division title tonight by virtue of a Minnesota State loss - had only lost one road game all season with the lone road loss coming all the way back on Dec. 6, 2014 against the Mavericks.
 
Wayne State (23-4, 17-4 NSIC) had a 14-game winning streak coming into McCown Gym. The Wildcats hadn't lost a game since dropping a home game against Augustana 68-60 back on Dec. 20, 2014. The run was good enough to get them the No. 3 ranking in the first NCAA Division II Central Region Rankings on Wednesday.
 
The first half would be a back-and-forth game of runs. After the Wildcats scored the first basket to open the game, the Warriors went on an 11-0 run over a 4:23 stretch, capped off by back-to-back Jenny Weiland jumpers to give WSU an 11-2 lead.
 
Wayne State responded with an 11-1 run of their own to take a 14-12 lead on two Paige Ballinger free throws with 8:43 to go in the first half. Roelofs came up with a huge answer on the offensive end. She would nail a three-pointer on the next possession to give the Warriors a 15-14 lead once again and propel another big Warriors run.
 
Winona State would go on a 13-2 run between the 8:20 and 4:19 mark that included two Weiland buckets and finished on a Nagle three-pointer to give the Warriors a 25-16 lead. Wayne State would make another run on the Warriors as a Jordan Spencer two-pointer cut the Warrior lead to 25-23 with 2:52 to play in the half. However, the Warriors would make sure they would not climb any closer for the rest of the half as Winona State closed out the first half on a 10-2 run. Roelofs hit two huge three-pointers during the run, including one with three seconds remaining to make it 35-25 at halftime.
 
Roelofs led the Warriors going into half with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 3-of-3 from behind the arc and Weiland added nine points from off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting.
 
Winona State would carry that momentum over to the second half as they opened the half on an 11-3 run over the first 4:24. Roelofs nailed two more three-pointers and was capped off on another Nagle three-pointer to make it 46-28 Warriors with 15:36 to go.
 
However, the Wildcats would not back down without a fight. Wayne State would make some small runs over the course of the half to chip into the Warrior lead. It started with a small 6-0 run to cut the Winona State lead to 46-35 with 13:13 to go. With the lead hovering around double-digits until the 9:54 mark, the Wildcats made another 6-0 run on back-to-back three-pointers to make it 52-46 with 9:09 to go.
 
The Warriors would get the lead back to double-figures on a layup by Alexis Foley and two Hannah McGlone free throws to make it 56-46 with 7:21 remaining.
 
Wayne State seemingly had an answer to keep it close. The Wildcats answered with a 6-0 run yet again to cut the Warrior lead to 56-52 with 3:59 to go.
 
After a few empty possessions by both teams, it was Nagle that came up with the biggest bucket of the game. With 2:12 remaining, Nagle buried a three-pointer from the corner with a hand in her face to beat the shot clock and make it a 59-52 Warrior lead.
 
Winona State would come up with a huge stop on the defensive end as a strong Foley rebound and a quick Wildcat foul would put the Warriors at the line to try to put the game away. Roelofs and Nagle would knock down free throws on consecutive possessions to keep the Warriors ahead 63-54 with 1:14 to play.
 
After Wayne State scored quickly to make it 63-56, Winona State broke the Wildcat press quickly with Roelofs finding Kayla Timmerman on a fastbreak layup to make it 65-56 with 54 seconds to play.
 
The Warriors would come up with two big defensive stops in the final minute before Nagle iced the game with four consecutive free throws on back-to-back possessions to give the Warriors the 69-56 victory.
 
Winona State got a balanced scoring effort with four players scoring in double-figures. Nagle scored 15 points, which included 6-of-6 from the charity stripe and a strong defensive effort recording four steals. McGlone recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. Weiland led all bench scorers for the Warriors with 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
 
Winona State will look to keep its undefeated home record in tact when it takes on Augustana on Saturday at 4 p.m. in McCown Gym in its final regular season finale.