Despite a valiant second half rally by Upper Iowa, Wayne State College was able to use their first half cushion to outlast the Peacocks in a 68-60 victory on Friday evening. The Wildcats claimed their first conference win to improve to 5-2 overall and 1-1 NSIC while Upper Iowa dropped their second game in a row to dip to 3-6 and 0-2 NSIC.

Savannah Domeyer and Natalie Dinius turned the Peacock's quiet offense around in the second half which saw UIU outscore Wayne State 41-31. Domeyer scored 17 of her game-high 23 points and Dinius added nine points.  

Upper Iowa came out of the break ready to battle back into the game. With the help of 12 points from Domeyer and three triples from Dinius, the Peacocks cut WSC's lead down to as few as eight points with 1:58 left in the 3^rd quarter. A 6-2 run helped the Wildcats push their lead back to twelve headed into the final frame.

The Peacocks continued to chip away in the fourth quarter with a 13-7 run. A couple of key threes by Emma Gaber pulled UIU within four with half a minute to play, but Wayne State converted a pair of free throws in the ensuing possession and Erin Norling sealed the 68-60 win with a steal and a layup.

Wayne State hurried out to a 9-4 lead in the opening minutes but Upper Iowa used a 6-0 run to push the Peacocks ahead 10-9 at the 3:22 mark, UIU's only lead of the night. WSC closed out the frame with eight unanswered for a 17-10 first quarter advantage. The Peacocks continued to struggle knocking shots down in the second quarter and were held to just nine points on 15.8 percent shooting during the period. The Wildcats shot nearly 38 percent on the other end of the court to add 20 points to the scoreboard and take a 37-19 lead into the break. Despite a stagnant first half offense, the Peacocks took care of the ball well by only committing two turnovers compared to WSC's eight giveaways.

Both teams gave up 12 turnovers – a season-low for Upper Iowa – but it was UIU who took more advantage of the giveaways by scoring 15 points off turnovers compared to WSC's 12. The Wildcats outrebounded UIU 51-47 despite a season-high 19 offensive rebounds from the Peacocks.   

Domeyer led all scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 12 boards to record her second career double-double. The sophomore shot 90% from the charity stripe and recorded six blocks. Dinius converted four treys to finish with 12 points and Gaber chipped in eight. Haley Martin and Caylin Rufus each contributed six rebounds, and Rufus dished out a team-high five assists.  

Three Wildcats finished in double-digits led by Norling with 19. Brittany Bongartz chipped in 15 points and Halley Busse added 14 thanks to four 3-pointers. Norling pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and Bongartz blocked three shots.

Upper Iowa will host the reigning NSIC champions from Augustana University in Dorman Gym on Saturday afternoon for a 3:30 p.m. tip off.