Sam Thiel/ Winonan

Despite a nail-biting opener to the pair of away games this weekend, the Winona State University women’s basketball fell to Augustana Friday with a score of 74-71 and Wayne State on Saturday 64-44.

The Warriors raced out of the gates right away, going on a 13-4 run against the Vikings. Connor Nagle and Tara Roelofs combined for a trio of threes while Alexis Foley and Hannah McGlone chipped in a layup apiece.

After a run by the Vikings the deficit was cut to 14-9 with 13:23 left. The Warriors responded with a 21-5 run in a six-minute stretch for a 35-14 advantage with 7:24 remaining in the opening period.

Augustana would cap off the first half with another run of their own, but Warrior Hannah McGlone’s layup with 37 seconds on the clock gave the Warriors a 43-29 halftime lead.

In the second half, Winona State extended its lead 52-37 with a little over 15 minutes left, but Augustana tied things up at 53 with a 16-1 run. The Warriors missed all eight of their shot attempts during the run with a trio of turnovers.

After Winona State regained the lead 65-58 with 4:45 remaining, the Vikings responded with their final run of the night, this time an 8-0 one in a 90 second stretch to claim their first lead, 66-65, with 3:12 left.

Timmerman reclaimed the lead for the Warriors with a basket, but the Vikings netted a pair of free throws to take the lead back.

After a Warrior turnover the battle for lead ended, the Vikings knocked down their free throws to ice the game with six seconds left, putting the score at 74-71.

Winona State recorded 17 turnovers against Augustana, 11 of those being in the second half. Guard Alexis Foley said most of these turnovers came after the Warriors broke their full court press.

Warrior center Kayla Timmerman connected on 10 of her 15 attempts from the field for a career-best 24 points while snagging eight rebounds.

Nagle went 6-of-11 from the field for 16 points, including knocking down four shots from behind the 3-point line.

McGlone added a career-best 14 points with six rebounds and three steals while Foley recorded 12 points with five assists to add to the effort.

Head coach Scott Ballard said, “Teams always try to find someway defensively to make your team uncomfortable which can cause you to speed up on offense and lose your patience. We played a great game against Augustana but went 5 minutes without scoring midway through the second half which allowed them to go on a run and erase our lead.”

Winona State continued their struggles with road play, dropping their fourth consecutive away game with a 64-44 loss to Wayne State Saturday, Jan. 24.

The Warrior offense scored a season-low 44 points and shot under 36 percent from the floor. The team also recorded a season-high for turnovers with 24.

Foley said the Warriors needed to “calm down on the court.”

“We need to be smarter with our passes and have more patience in letting the play go through,” Foley said. “I think we were trying to force the ball inside too much when the pass wasn’t there.”

After a few minutes of play, Wayne State took the lead and kept it for the majority of the half, but the Warriors stayed within a six-point radius.

A layup from Foley brought Winona State to a three-point deficit, 20-17, with 3:27 left in the opening period.

The Wildcats put the game out of reach, going on a 16-0 run to finish the first half as they took a 36-17 lead heading into the locker room.

The Wildcats were able to increase their advantage throughout the second half, reaching a lead of 30 points.

Winona State managed a 11-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to 19 and bring the game 60-41, but Wayne State walked away with the win 64-44.

Timmerman recorded double figures for the Warriors, netting 12 points despite going scoreless in the first half and halfway through the second half.

Nagle added eight points and led the way in the rebound department with nine and Foley chipped in eight for the Warriors.

Winona State (13-5 overall, 9-5 NSIC) will put their unbeaten record at home on the line next weekend with games against Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday at McCown Gymnasium.