BEMIDJI, Minn. – The No. 10 Winona State women's basketball team won its 20th game of the season and head coach Scott Ballard won his 200th game with the Warriors in a 65-56 victory over Bemidji State Friday night at the BSU Gymnasium.
Ballard, in his 12th season at WSU and the winningest coach in program history, earned win No. 200 as the head coach of the Warriors while simultaneously reaching the 20-win plateau for the third time in four seasons and the sixth time in his tenure.
Alexis Foley led the Warriors with a game-high 22 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting while hitting all five free throw attempts. Kayla Timmerman also hit 8-of-11 shots for a 17-point, eight-rebound performance. Hannah McGlone finished just shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Warriors jumped all over the Beavers early as a layup from McGlone – who had 10 points and six rebounds in the first half – a 3-point play from Alexis Foley and back-to-back baskets from Kayla Timmerman gave WSU a 9-0 lead less than two minutes into the first quarter. Later in the period, back-to-back 3-pointers from Foley and Jenny Tuttle capped off an 8-0 run to end the quarter and the Warriors took a 23-9 advantage.
The 8-0 run turned into a 14-0 run to start the second quarter as a quick five points from Connor Nagle helped WSU build the lead to 29-9. But the Beavers heated up and challenged the Warriors for the remainder of the half as BSU used a 19-10 run the rest of the way, trailing 39-28 at halftime.
The Warriors started quick in the second half as well, using a 10-3 run to take a 49-31 lead, but the Beavers answered again with an 8-0 run to end the third quarter as WSU lead was cut to 10, 49-39. The Warriors hit just two of their last eight shots to end the quarter with nearly a five minute scoring drought.
The Beavers briefly cut the lead to single digits early in the final quarter on a Tatum Sheley jumper to make it 51-43, but WSU answered with a 6-0 run that made it 57-43 at the 7:00 mark. BSU's Allison Cordes hit her fifth 3-pointer of the game – but her only three points of the second half after 14 in the first half – with 2:42 left to cut it to single digits for the last time at 63-54 as the Warriors finished off the 65-56 win.
WSU shot 48.1 percent from the floor (26-of-54) while holding the Beavers to 39.7 (23-of-58). The Warriors also claimed the rebounding battle with a 37-28 edge.
No. 10 Winona State (20-2, 13-2 NSIC) travels to Minnesota Crookston for a 4 p.m. tipoff Saturday.
