Wayne State College hung on late to trip up the University of Minnesota Duluth 76-70 Saturday in the Rice Auditorium. The Wildcats improve to 18-6 and 12-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while the Bulldogs go to 11-8 and 8-7 in conference play.
 
Wayne State, who has had the upper hand in the series in eight of the last nine coming into the contest, got out to a 24-15 lead through the first quarter getting to the free-throw line early and often. The Wildcats were 10-for-10 at the charity stripe in the quarter. Wayne State stayed perfect on its four attempts at line in the second to take an eight-point lead to the half.
 
The Bulldogs made their rally in the fourth quarter but wasn't able to overtake the Wildcats. Down 12, UMD went on a 14-5 run to cut it to three on a pair of free throws by junior Emma Boehm. Wayne State, led by Paige Ballinger's 20 points, pushed it back to 10 and kept UMD at bay for the rest of the game.
 
Boehm and freshman forward Sarah Grow each had 14 points to guide UMD. Sophomore forward Katie Stark contributed with 13 points and a career high six assists. Freshman guard Ann Simonet also etched a career high in steals with four. Senior forward Allison Olley had a team-high eight rebounds and the club's only block of the contest.
 
The Bulldogs, who have been characteristically one of the nation's best at taking care of the ball, lost the ball 16 times. They also had four players with at least four fouls including a foul out.
 
The Wildcats shot 50 percent from the floor and hit 30 of their 34 attempts, a season-high allowed by UMD. The Bulldogs hit 43.5 percent on 27-of-62 shooting.
 
UMD will head home for a much needed five-game home stint at Romano Gymnasium starting next Friday (Feb. 2) with Minnesota State University, Mankato.