CROOKSTON, Minn. – Connor Nagle tied a career-high with seven 3-pointers and the Winona State women's basketball team shot a blistering 68 percent from the field in a 96-72 win over Minnesota Crookston Saturday afternoon at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.
Nagle's seven treys ties her career high for the third time and ranks fourth in team history. Meanwhile WSU's 67.8 percent shooting easily is the top mark from an NSIC team this season, with Wayne State's 62.5 percent effort against St. Cloud State serving as the previous best.
Three Warriors were in double figures by halftime and for the second time in four games the Warriors put all five starters in double figures for the game, led by Nagle's 21 points and five assists. Alexis Foley added 17 points and dished out a career-high and WSU season high 11 assists, while Kayla Timmerman had 17 points and five rebounds. McGlone had 14 points – 12 in the first half – and eight rebounds, while Tara Roelofs scored all of her points in an 11 point third quarter.
The Warriors shot even better than their finishing mark for the majority of the game as WSU shot 75 percent (21-of-28) in the first half and made 7-of-8 3-pointers. The Warriors scored above 25 points in each of the first three quarters and were outscored only in the fourth when its reserves saw action.
The senior Nagle was on fire in the first half, draining all six of her 3-point attempts to spark the Warriors to yet another hot start. The Warriors – who have not trailed at any point in the past five games – led by a slim 9-7 margin nearly four minutes into the first quarter when Nagle buried the first of her triples and sprinkled in another a couple minutes later to play a key role in a 10-2 run that put the Warriors up 19-9 with 3:23 left in the quarter. Nagle would go onto hit two more in the quarter as the Warriors led 27-16 after one quarter.
Minnesota Crookston – which, like the Warriors, made 11 3-pointers in the game – got one from Alexa Thielman to open the second quarter and make it an eight-point game, but that's the last time they'd see a single digit game, as five minutes later another Nagle 3-ball put the Warriors up 45-23 with four minutes left in the half. UMC did its best to keep up the Warriors' torrid shooting pace, at one point getting it down to a 16-point deficit, but a long two-pointer from Jenny Weiland at the first half buzzer put the Warriors ahead 53-33 at halftime. UMC shot a respectable 48 percent half, but was no match for the Warriors' 75 percent effort.
Nagle hit her final 3-pointer of the game with 7:27 left in the third to give the Warriors a 60-36 lead and Tara Roelofs' 11 points made sure there'd be no run from the Golden Eagles as WSU kept the lead above 20 points the rest of the way to the 96-72 win.
No. 10 Winona State (21-2, 14-2 NSIC) now enjoys a four-game homestand spanning the next two weekends, beginning with matchups against St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth next Friday and Saturday in McCown Gymnasium.
