DETROIT – The Wayne State University women's basketball team (4-3 overall, 2-0 GLIAC) won its fourth consecutive contest in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon at the Matthaei.  WSU trailed 73-72 with 6.2 seconds remaining after Hillsdale's Allie Dewire made a pair of free throws.  Junior Shannon Wilson (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Bloomfield Hills) took the inbounds pass and went the length of the court to score the game-winning basket in the Warriors 74-73 triumph over the Chargers (5-3 overall, 0-2 GLIAC).

HOW IT HAPPENED

Wayne State never led in the first five minutes of the game, although the Warriors tied the game three times in the first three minutes.

With Hillsdale leading 10-6, the WSU defense held the visitors without a field goal for over four minutes and tallied 12 of the 13 points to grab an 18-11 advantage.  Freshman Nastassja Chambers (Ypsilanti, Mich. / Arbor Prep) and sophomore Ja'Nae Williams (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) each had four points during the run.

Both teams made eight field goals in the opening quarter which saw WSU lead 20-17 after 10 minutes as Chambers had a game-best eight points in the period.

The Warriors lead increased to 11 (32-21), which would be their largest advantage in the game, in the first four minutes of the second quarter.  HC responded with a 13-2 spurt over the next 3:15 to knot the contest at 34-34.  WSU had a 38-36 lead at intermission behind 12 points from Chambers and eight from Williams.

After the third tie, in just the third period alone, the Chargers scored five straight points to take a 57-52 lead.  HC's Makenna Ott was 5-of-6 (1-of-2 on three-pointers) in the third quarter to score 11 points as Hillsdale won the third stanza 21-16.

Wayne State scored the first three points of the fourth period to tie the game at 57-57.  The Chargers answered with a 7-0 run for their largest lead of the game (64-57) with just over six minutes remaining.

Down by six with five minutes left, Wilson and junior Sara Ruhstorfer (Grand Blanc, Mich. / Flint Powers Catholic) connected on back-to-back triples to tie the contest at 66-66.  Both Wilson and Ruhstorfer assisted on each other's long-range shot.  A Wilson bucket with 3:31 remaining gave WSU its first lead in over 12 minutes, and after HC's Allie Dittmer split a pair from the charity stripe, senior Christina Green (Southfield, Mich. / Lathrup) scored from the inside increasing the margin to three (70-67).  Dewire scored consecutive buckets to put the guests in front 71-70 with 1:09 left.

Each team failed to convert on its next possession with senior Ajai Meeks (Detroit, Mich. / Pershing) being fouled with 11.1 seconds remaining after getting a rebound.  Meeks calmly sank both free throws giving WSU a 72-71 lead.  The Chargers called a "full" timeout which moved the ball to the front court.  Williams knocked the first inbounds pass out of play with 10.2 seconds left setting up the aforementioned two foul shots for Dewire and the game-winning hoop by Wilson.

TEAM STATS

Hillsdale shot 46 percent (28-of-61) from the floor compared to 44 percent (26-of-59) for WSU.  The Warriors connected on 42 percent (5-of-12) of their triple tries, while HC was 6-of-18 for 33 percent.  The major difference came at the foul line, as Wayne State was 17-of-19 (90 percent) with the Chargers making just 61 percent (11-of-18) of their foul shots.  Hillsdale had a 20-11 edge in points off turnovers along with a 19-10 margin in second-chance points.

WSU LEADERS

Wilson scored a game-high 21 points off the bench, while Chambers contributed 16 points.  Green and Ruhstorfer each chipped in 10 points with Green grabbing a team-best six rebounds.  Junior Payton Birchmeier (Corunna, Mich.) had a team-high three assists and two steals.

HC LEADERS

Ott led the Chargers with 19 points, while Dewire and Morgan Blair added 17 and 10 points, respectively.  Maddy Reed nearly had a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Wayne State will play its first two road conference games this upcoming week visiting Tiffin on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. contest and Ashland on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip.