BOX SCORE

WAYNE, Neb. -  A season-high 25 turnovers and poor shooting proved to be the doom of the Northern State University women's basketball team Friday, as they lost to the Wayne State Wildcats by a final score of 53-40 in Wayne, Nebraska.

The Wolves fall to 12-12 overall on the year and 8-9 in the Northern Sun with the loss, and the Wildcats lift their record to 13-11 and 10-7 in the NSIC with their win at home.  Both teams are still in the hunt for a spot in the NSIC tournament, with the Wildcats sitting in a tie for sixth place with Minnesota Duluth, and the Wolves are a game out in a tie for ninth place with Concordia-St. Paul.

The Wolves trailed by one point at halftime, going in to the locker room for the midway break trailing 27-28, but were outscored 25-13 in the second half as the Wolves shot just 4-22 from the field (18 percent).

On the night, the Wolves went 15-52 from the floor, for an average of 28.8 percent, their lowest shooting percentage of the year. Their season-high turnover total combined with their poor shooting helped to combine for the Wolves lowest scoring total of the season, and the lowest since the Wolves lost to MSU-Moorhead by a 38-58 final on January 5, 2008.

Sophomore Aberdeen, S.D. native Megan Kusler led the scoring for the Wolves, recording nine points on 3-7 shooting from the floor, including 3-6 from behind the three point line. Freshman Maggie Bryant and sophomore Krista Rabenberg followed Kusler in the scoring category, each recording eight points on the night.  Mikayla Barondeau led the team on the boards, recording eight rebounds in 35 minutes of action.

The Wolves try to rebound tomorrow night when they take on the conference's second-place team, Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.   The Wolves knocked off the then #25 ranked Vikings 64-53 in Aberdeen on December 6th.  Midcontinent Communications has announced that it will broadcast the Wolves' games against their in-state rival on Channel 23.

The games will be broadcast across the entire states of North and South Dakota.  Tom Neiman will have the play-by-play action, while Al Bahe will provide color commentary.

The women's game is slated for a 6 p.m. tip-off with the men's game to follow at 8 p.m.

Northern State University is an NCAA Division II affiliated school participating in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

**GO WOLVES**