Boxscore

Marquette, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team notched its third win in its last four contests with a come-from-behind 63-59 win at Northern Michigan University's Berry Events Center on Saturday.  The win improves WSU's overall record to 10-5 with an 8-3 GLIAC mark.  The Wildcats fall to 9-7 overall and 6-6 in the league.

The contest was tied seven times in the second half (11 for the game) with NMU scoring four straight points to take a 38-34 lead with just over 12 minutes left.  The Warriors tallied the next four points on buckets by sophomore forward Kayla Bridges (Canton, Mich.) and senior center Juanita Cochran (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill).  After a Wildcat field goal, Cochran sank two foul shots and freshman guard Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich./Lincoln) followed with a steal and a fast-break lay-up pushing the WSU lead to the largest of the game at six points (52-46).

Cochran made two more from the charity stripe after a basket by Alyssa Colla, but Northern Michigan answered with a 5-0 run to make it a one-point game at 54-53 with 2:45 left.  Cochran split a pair from the foul line then NMU's Lauren Gruber did the same.  On the ensuing possession, Cochran scored from down low with just over 90 seconds left.  Wildcat Abbey DeBruin scored 10 seconds later cutting the WSU lead to one (57-56).

Wayne State worked the shot clock down and Streetman connected on a jumper regaining the three-point margin.  After a lay-up by Colla with 41 seconds left, freshman guard Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich./Durand) calmly sank a pair of foul shots, and after a missed jumper by DeBruin, Streetman sealed the road victory with more free throws.

"We did a great job of battling back today," stated WSU head coach Carrie Lohr after the win.  "Juanita battled hard all day against double and triple teams. She was able to get to the line after some big buckets and gave us a lead.  The last few minutes were not executed the way I would have liked. I think we were comfortable but we found a way to close it out.  Our press really dictated the game, we weren't really looking for steals just to control the pace of the game and I think our guards did just that."

NMU closed out the first half on a 7-4 run following an 18-18 deadlock.  The deficit could have been more than had Kayla Bridges not scored from down low in the final few seconds before intermission.

After dismissal shooting in the first half by both teams (WSU - 29 percent/NMU - 32 percent), the Warriors connected on 58 percent (14-of-28) of its shots in the final 20 minutes compared to 46 percent (12-of-26) for the Wildcats.



Cochran scored a game-high 20 points to off-set three Wildcats in double figures.  Senior Talisha Bridges (Kalamazoo, Mich./Loy Norrix) chipped in with 12 points for WSU, while Kayla Bridges totaled a game-best 13 rebounds.

Colla and Gruber each had 15 for Northern Michigan.

Wayne State will conclude its three-game road swing with a Thursday night contest at Ferris State.