SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 8 Winona State women's basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to post a 68-64 comeback win over Concordia-St. Paul in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
With the victory, the Warriors advance to face the winner of the MSU Moorhead vs. Augustana at 8 p.m. Monday in a semifinal matchup.
Trailing 51-42 to start the fourth quarter, the Warriors found their offense as Alexis Foley hit a jumper to start the period and then found Connor Nagle for a fastbreak layup on the next possession to cut it to 51-46. The Warriors still found themselves down seven at the six minute mark before back-to-back baskets from Jenny Weiland – who had a career-high 15 points – made it 53-50.
Kayla Timmerman brought the Warriors back even with the Golden Bears with 3:49 left on a 3-point play to tie it at 53-53. Nagle added an and-one of her own on the next possession to give WSU its first lead since halftime at 56-55. It was back-and-forth from there as the two teams traded leads, but yet another and-one play was converted by Weiland to put the Warriors up 62-58 with 1:13 to play and she soon after dished it to Roelofs for a 64-60 lead the Warriors were able to survive with the 68-64 win.
Foley led the Warriors with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting with six rebounds and four assists, while Weiland scored her 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Roelofs finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Nagle had 10 points and seven rebounds, while Timmerman had a game-high 11 rebounds – including 10 at halftime.
The Warriors finished the game shooting 44 percent despite making just 4-of-15 shots from 3-point range. But the Golden Bears were worse from beyond the arc, hitting 4-of-20 and shot 43 percent overall. WSU also claimed the rebounding battle by a 37-34 edge.
Neither team was particularly effective on offense early on, as Tara Roelofs put the Warriors on the board with a wide open 3-pointer at the 7:11 mark to make it 4-3. A 9-0 run from the Warriors made it 12-7 on a basket from Weiland and WSU had a 19-13 lead after a Roelofs triple. Timmerman also hit a 3-pointer to put WSU up 22-18, but the Warriors led by just one, 25-24, at halftime.
The Golden Bears opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 32-25 lead and led throughout the third quarter to force WSU's rally.