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Wayne State University Athletics

McKenna Ferguson vs. D'Youville (12/3/23)
Zack Belsky/WSU Athletics
Ferguson scored a game-high and personal-best 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting and converted 9-of-10 at the free throw line.
85
Winner Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 10-4,3-2 GLIAC
81
Davenport Daven 2-12,0-4 GLIAC
Winner
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne
10-4,3-2 GLIAC
85
Final
81
Davenport Daven
2-12,0-4 GLIAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 F
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 16 15 21 22 11 85
Davenport Daven 11 12 28 23 7 81

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Cooper Weidenthaler, Sports Communications Specialist

Ferguson Leads Women's Basketball Past Davenport in Overtime, 85-81

Wayne State outscored Davenport 11-7 in the extra period.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (10-4 overall, 3-2 GLIAC) outlasted Davenport (2-12 overall, 0-4 GLIAC) 85-81 in an overtime thriller on Thursday night on the west side.  McKenna Ferguson (Grandville, Mich. / Byron Center) scored a game-high and personal-best 28 points including 21 in the second half plus overtime period.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Davenport scored the game's first two points on a pair of Lillee Gustafson free throws before Wayne State responded with a 9-2 run that lasted just over two and a half minutes.  During that span, three different Warriors found the scoring column including Shea Tripp (Jackson, Mich. / Michigan Center) with four points, Gabi Lutchka (Grass Lake, Mich.) with three and Kate McArthur (Warren, Mich. / Cousino (Central Michigan)) with two.

DU cut the margin to three (9-6) before WSU pushed its advantage to as many as eight points at both 14-6 and 16-8.  Mackenzie Miller (Schoolcraft, Mich. (Lakeland University) hit a layup to get Wayne State's advantage to that many the first time and Lutchka cashed a three to make it 16-8.

Davenport's Makenna Bryant splashed a three-pointer at the 1:59 mark for the period's final points that pulled the home team within five, 16-11.

Second Quarter
Ferguson converted a triple nine seconds into the second stanza that stretched the Warriors' lead back to eight at 19-11.

The Panthers answered with back-to-back three-pointers that shrank the edge back down to two (19-17).  Wayne State was able to weather the storm though and outscored Davenport 11-6 through the end of the first half.

At one point, WSU rattled off eight points in a row for a stretch of just under five minutes (5:46 to 0:57).  Four of those eight came from Ferguson while Lutchka and Taylor Thompson (Grand Blanc, Mich.) chipped in two apiece.

Third Quarter
After a lead as big as 11 (31-20) in the second quarter, Wayne State notched the first four points of the third for its biggest advantage of the night at 12 (35-23).  Lutchka made a layup and Alyssa Leister (St. Louis, Mich. / Alma) went 2-of-2 at the free throw line to spearhead the effort.

Davenport tallied 14 of the ensuing 17 points over the course of 3:22 of game time to make it a one-point affair, 38-37.

The Warriors hung tough though and used a mini 6-2 spurt to go back ahead by five, 44-39.  The Panthers countered with a 12-2 run that gave them their first and then largest advantage of the game, 51-46,

WSU shutout DU 6-0 from that point through the end of the period to lead by one (52-51) heading into the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter
The fourth installment was a tight one to begin with as it saw six ties and seven lead changes in the first five-plus minutes.

With the score deadlocked at 64-64, Davenport went on to take its biggest advantage of the evening at six, 70-64.  Wayne State clawed back to tie the game for an 11th time at 72-72 before Ferguson went to the charity stripe for a pair with just four seconds to play.  Ferguson made both, but DU's Gustafson sank two on the other end three seconds later to send the game into overtime.

Overtime
McArthur and Gustafson both went 1-of-2 at the free throw line within the first 30 seconds of the extra period to make the score 75-75.

Following three more ties (77-77, 79-79 and 81-81), Ferguson scored the final of her game-high and personal-best 28 points with a layup at the 1:41 mark.

However, Ferguson notched her fifth and final foul with just over 20 seconds on the clock, but Davenport's Bryant came up empty on the first free throw before the second was cancelled due to a lane violation.

Back on the other end, Wayne State put the game on ice as Lutchka made a pair of free throws.

TEAM STATS
Wayne State shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) to Davenport's 37.3 percent (25-of-67), including 50 percent (4-of-8) to 18.2 percent (2-of-11) in overtime.  The Panthers made 11 three-pointers to the Warriors' three, but WSU had a stiff upper hand in bench points (43-21), fast-break scoring (8-0), points off turnovers (27-17) and paint scoring (44-26).

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Ferguson was one of four Warriors to score in double figures along with Lutchka (16), McArthur (11) and Miller (11).  Thanks to a career-high 10 rebounds, Lutchka garnered the first double-double effort of her career and McArthur dished out four assists.  Defensively, Ferguson tallied four steals while Leister and ZaMaria Polk (Detroit, Mich. / Mumford (Pensacola State / Cleveland State)) each stuffed one shot attempt.

LEADING THE PANTHERS
Just like the Warriors, four Panthers scored at least 10 points including Bryant (21), Ellie Toney (18, 10 rebounds), Gustafson (17, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Isabel Lindo (12).  Davenport's other leaders included Alexa Kolnitys with three assists and Lindo with a trio of steals.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will be at top-ranked Grand Valley State on Saturday for a 3 p.m. opening tip against the Lakers.  The start was pushed back two hours due to the impending weather.

 
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