Boxscore

Photo Gallery From Pre-Tournament Banquet

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (5-3 overall) won its day one game of the 2012 WSU/Waste Management Holiday Classic with a 79-69 triumph over Missouri-St. Louis (4-4 overall).  This was the third straight contest that the Warriors had lead the entire game, a was Wayne State's fifth victory in its last six outings.

The Warriors raced out to a 7-1 lead in th first 2:10 of the contest via a lay-up by senior center Juanita Cochran (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill), a pair of free throws by senior forward Phaebre Colbert (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern) and the first of two triples on the afternoon for senior guard Paige Sickmiller (Romeo, Mich.).

The visiting Tritons cut the WSU lead to four twice (7-3 and 15-11) over the next five minutes preceeding a 10-0 Wayne State run pushing the lead to 14 at 25-11 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.  Freshman guard Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich. / Durand) started the streak with a pair of foul shots.  Senior forward Deanna Crumpton (Kentwood, Mich. / East Kentwood) had a conventional three-point play, freshman forward Stephanie Lock (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland) added her first career triple and senior forward Talisha Bridges (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Loy Norrix) finished off the run with a pair of free throws.

Wayne State's lead remained at least 12 points until five consecutive points by the Warriors on a Lock lay-up and a conventional three-point play by Sickmiller pushed the advantage to 19 at 39-20 with just under three minutes left before intermission.

After ending the first half on a 9-2 run, UMSL began the second half on a 14-4 spurt over the first six minutes to pull within two at 45-43.  Jessica Zavoral scored seven points for the Tritons, while Hazaria Washington added six points.

Lock hit a pair from the charity stripe, and Cochran followed with a conventional three-point play increasing the lead to seven (50-43).

UMSL made it a one-point game on three occasions in a 90-second span (51-50, 53-52 and 55-54) before Crumpton tallied the next six points.  After the teams traded field goals on the next few possessions, the Warrior advantage was at least six until Alexis Lawrence drained a triple and Angela Johnson followed with a fast-break lay-up making it a four-point game (71-67) with 1:48 left.

Talisha Bridges hit a jumper and the squads exchanged free throws, before Bridges sank three-of-four from the foul line ina 17-second span increasing the lead to nine (77-68) with just under a minute remaining.

WSU shot 46 percent (26-of-57) from the floor but just 33 percent (4-of-12) from beyond the arc.  Meanwhile, UMSL connected on 39 percent of its field goal attempts (24-of-62), and were 4-of-11 from three-point range.  Wayne State had a 45-39 edge in rebounding leading to a 14-11 advantage in second-chance points.

The Warriors had a decisive 50-23 edge in bench scoring.

Talisha Bridges led WSU with 16 points as four senior Warriors scored in double figures.  Crumpton tallied 13 off the bench, while Cochran and Sickmiller had 12 and 11 points, respectively.  Cochran also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Washington led UMSL with 16 points, while Zavoral tallied 14 points off the bench.  Devonna Smith led the Tritons with eight rebounds before fouling out.

The 2012 Wayne State/Waste Management Holiday Classic will conclude on Saturday as Northwood faces Missouri-St. Louis at 1 pm, followed by the Wayne State against Urbana clash at 3 p.m.

Click here for boxscore from Urbana's 71-67 win over Northwood.