Box Score NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket

Records
 
Upper Iowa (5-21, 4-18 NSIC) || No. 11 Wayne State (26-3, 19-3 NSIC)
 

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Recap
 
A strong start in each half propelled the 11th-ranked Wildcats of Wayne State to a 78-56 victory over the Upper Iowa women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon. Following the game, the Peacocks honored their lone senior, Sam Thrapp, who played in her final home game of her collegiate career.
 
The Peacocks wanted to send her off with a win, but from the start, the Wildcats were dominant. On defense, WSC forced just two turnovers, but more importantly the Wildcats forced UIU to take bad shots. The Peacocks missed their first 12 attempts from the floor as WSC jumped out to a 14-0 lead eight minutes into the game.
 
Thrapp finally stopped the bleeding for UIU with a jumper from 9 feet out. Whitney Kieffer kept the offense going with back-to-back buckets, but the Wildcats were still finding the hoop on the other end. Midway through the first half, the visitors had built an 18-6 lead.
 
Slowly but surely, the Peacocks chipped away at the Wildcat lead thanks to the strong play of Carly Pagel. After Kieffer added her third bucket of the game, Pagel went to work on the block. At the eight-minute mark, the sophomore converted a three-point play. A minute later, Lauren Buck added a jumper to pull UIU within nine, 22-13. After the Wildcats answered with a bucket of their own, Pagel hit the gas pedal.
 
She scored three straight buckets as UIU pulled within five of their guests, 24-19. She then sandwiched a Jaylan Spencer layup with a jumper on the other end. That bucket pushed her into the double-digit category as UIU kept within striking distance, 26-21, with 4:19 left before halftime.
 
WSC earned another layup before Lindsay Carroll drained a three from the left wing. Pagel added one final bucket before intermission, but the Wildcats ended the first half on an 8-2 run. WSC shot 50-percent from the floor in the first half, compared to a 36-percent shooting clip for UIU, en route to a 38-27 lead at the break.
 
Buck provided an early second-half spark for UIU as she converted a three-point play on the Peacocks' first possession, but WSC responded with a 10-0 run to take a 48-30 lead with 17 minutes left in regulation.
 
The Peacocks finally turned it around with an inside-out attack. First, Emily Gustafson drew a foul on the block and hit one of two free throws. On the next possession, the freshman fed Olivia Winkler for the easy layup. Kieffer added a three at the 15:09 mark as UIU cut the WSC lead back to 15, 51-36.
 
That's when UIU's offense went ice cold. The Peacocks were held without a basket for nearly five minutes as the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run. A three from Thrapp snapped the home team's scoreless streak, but WSC added two more free throws before UIU scored again. Buck hit back-to-back jumpers but the Peacocks still trailed, 66-43, with 8:21 left in regulation.
 
Pagel added four more points to her stat line before the night was over, but UIU never pulled within single digits again. The Wildcats sealed the 78-56 victory in Fayette to improve to 26-3 overall this year and 19-3 in the NSIC. The Peacocks end the season with a 5-21 overall mark and a 4-18 conference record.
 

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Stat of the Game
 
Carly Pagel has scored a season-high 20 points in back-to-back games now. Her career high came last year against U-Mary as she scored 22 points against the Marauders.
 

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UIU Standouts
 
Pagel (20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 assist), Buck (13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist), Kieffer (11 points, 1 rebound), Thrapp (5 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists)
 

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Up Next
 
The Peacocks will enter the 16-team NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament as they travel to North Dakota to face the second seed in the NSIC North - either U-Mary or Minot State. Both teams sit at 14-8 in NSIC play and their tiebreaker will be decided by the Northern Sun Conference office on Monday.