WAYNE, Neb. – The No. 8 Winona State women's basketball team used a strong third quarter to surge past Wayne State 73-55 Friday night at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Neb.
Two-time reigning NSIC Player of the Week Connor Nagle led the Warriors with another outstanding effort, scoring a game-high 20 points with eight rebounds and four assists. In the game, Nagle moved into second place in the WSU single-season record book for 3-point field goals made with 94, passing now-assistant coach Ana Wurtz's mark of 92 and is now 10 3-pointers shy of surpassing Becca Friestleben's school record of 103 set in 2012-13. For the sixth straight game Nagle connected on at least 5 3-pointers, this time sinking 6-of-12 shots from behind the arc.
Kayla Timmerman and Hannah McGlone each finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Nagle's first 3-pointer of the game helped the Warriors open up a 7-0 lead less than a minute half into the game. Her second quickly made it 12-4 and the Warriors had a double-digit lead at 14-4 by the 6:14 mark in the first quarter. But a 13-6 run throughout the remainder of the quarter by the Wildcats gave the Warriors just a 20-17 advantage after one.
A tightly-contested second quarter saw the Warriors clinging to just a one-point lead after WSC's Maggie Lowe hit a 3-pointer with 3:36 left in the half, but WSU wouldn't let Wayne State take a lead, ending on a 6-0 spurt capped off with a Jenny Weiland jumper to take a 36-29 lead into the locker room.
The Warriors created separation in the third quarter as another triple from Nagle put the Warriors up 41-29 and soon after an 11-0 run capped off with, again, a 3-pointer from Nagle, made it 55-33 with 2:23 left in the third and the game was largely out of reach as WSU extended its program record with its 26th win of the season.
Winona State (26-2, 19-2 NSIC) closes out the regular season Saturday when it travels to Sioux Falls for a 4 p.m. tipoff against the Vikings at Sioux Falls Arena.
