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Detroit – Four Warriors scored in double figures and the WSU defense forced 28 turnovers Thursday night as the Wayne State women's basketball team defeated Saginaw Valley State 68-58 to earn its first win in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The victory also ended Wayne State's three-game losing streak.

The win improves WSU's record to 3-11 overall and 1-8 in the GLIAC while Saginaw Valley drops to 4-10 overall and 2-7 in the GLIAC.

As a team, Wayne State collected 16 steals which is a season-high and the most since its 18 vs. Saginaw Valley a year ago.

Junior guard Chelsea Kouri (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) came off the bench to score a season-high 17 points after shooting 6-for-13 from the field with five of the baskets being from three-point range. Kouri, who was just four points short of matching her career-high, has now made five three-pointers in a game two times this season.

Freshman guard Tyler Hardy (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) scored 12 points, seven via free throws, while making three steals which tied sophomore guard Felicia Thomas (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) and freshman guard Amelia Davis (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) for a team-best. Thursday marks the second time in four games that Hardy has scored 10 or more points.

Joining Hardy and Kouri in double figures was freshman forward Chelsea Davis (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Salem) who scored 11 points while grabbing nine rebounds, just missing her first double-double. Senior guard Brooke Bowers (Delphos, Ohio/Jefferson) also scored 11 giving her 993 career points.

In addition to her three steals, Amelia Davis also brought in six rebounds. Bowers and freshman forward Deanna Crumpton (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) both helped out on the boards as well with five rebounds each.

With neither team able to score for the first 2:23 of the period, WSU relied on its defense to force six early turnovers. Three-pointers from Thomas and Kouri would eventually help the Warriors open up a 10-4 lead with 12:39 remaining in the half. However, the Cardinals would come back to take a 24-19 lead with less than a minute left in the stanza and seem poised to take a lead into halftime, but Wayne State had other plans.

Hardy would make two free throws with 39.8 left on the clock and then get a steal on the defensive end to give Wayne State the ball with seconds left. Those seconds turned out to be all the time Kouri needed as sophomore guard Kiara Smith (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) found the Clarkston, Mich. native who proceeded to bury a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 24-24 heading into the break.

Both offenses picked up in the second half as the two squads traded leads until WSU went on a 12-0 run that lasted almost five minutes (8:25 to 3:50) to extend the lead to double digits (60-49) to put the Warriors up for good. Hardy paced the Warriors during the run, scoring seven points.

Wayne State closed out the game by sinking six consecutive foul shots, four by Bowers and two by Hardy, on its way to the 10-point win.

Brittany Burkhardt had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cardinals.

Wayne State will be back in action on Saturday against Lake Superior looking for its fourth win of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Matthaei.