Huskies Bounce Back with 79-42 Win over Tiffin
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tiffin (5-10,1-6 GLIAC) | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 42 |
|
Michigan Tech (12-2, 6-1 GLIAC) | 23 | 23 | 20 | 13 | 79 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team shutdown Tiffin University 79-42 Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at the SDC. The Huskies' defense limited the Dragons to 11 points or fewer in each of the four quarters on the way the their 12th overall victory of the season.
"I'm really happy with the way we responded from Thursday's loss," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kim Cameron said. "We really focused on us and getting better and we came out confident and strong which set the tone early in the game. I thought a lot of different players had some really good minutes.
"Our defense was solid today and we did a really good job of being in position and communicating well on the floor. Tiffin is a really difficult team to guard because they run a lot of different plays and have lots of screening action in their offense. Our players were able to count on our fundamental defensive philosophies which helped get us through."
Tiffin (5-10, 1-6 GLIAC) struck for the first four points in Saturday's game when Madison Jackson knocked down a pair of jump shots in the opening 90 seconds. Senior Brenna Heise dialed in a triple with 8:10 on the first half clock to put Michigan Tech (12-2, 6-1 GLIAC) on the board and make it a 4-3 game. The Dragons then notched the next five points to lead 9-3 following a layup from Kiley May with just over seven minutes to go in the quarter.
However, Tiffin's advantage wouldn't last long thanks to a 20-2 scoring burst that would change the complexion of the game. Senior Lindsay Winter got things rolling with a triple and then senior Hannah Stoll drew the Huskies to within one at 9-8. Senior Kelli Guy then found the target from behind the arc to push Tech in front 11-9 and from that point on the Huskies would hold the advantage the rest of the way.
Stoll increased the gap to 20-9 on a layup with just under a minute left in the first frame before Tiffin's Ali Schirmer would halt Tiffin's scoring drought with a layup. Junior Michelle LaFave, who posted a career high 17 points on Thursday, capped the first quarter with a triple to give Tech a 23-11 cushion going into the second period.
Michigan Tech continued to pull away throughout the second quarter and constructed a 41-21 lead courtesy of sophomore Hannah Hobson's layup with 2:36 to go until the break. Winter tacked on another triple and Kelliher worked her way into the paint for another layup with under a minute to play in the second. The result of Kelliher's bucket was a 46-21 lead for the Huskies at the intermission.
The Huskies kept up the intensity coming out of the locker room at halftime, outscoring the Dragons 20-10 in the third quarter before closing the game with 13 more points in the fourth period. The Huskies had 13 players log minutes with nine of them putting points on the board.
Kelliher was one of four Tech players to reach double digit point totals with a team high 14. She also grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists, and blocked two shots. LaFave followed with 11 points and three rebounds while Heise and Hobson chipped in with 10 points apiece. The point total for Hobson was both a season and career high. Winter added nine points and once again led the team on the boards with eight rebounds while distributing a game high seven assists.
The Huskies found the target on 52.5% of their field goal attempts (31-59), were 11 of 20 from three-point range (55.0%), and 6 of 7 at the free throw line (85.7%). Tech dominated the paint by out-rebounding Tiffin 42-25.
The Dragons were led by Schirmer who produced a game high 16 points followed by May with seven points. Sarah Cummings and Annie Santucci paced Tiffin with five rebounds apiece. Tech's defense limited the Dragons to a success rate of 31.5% shooting from the field (17-54), they were 3 of 12 from behind the arc (25.0%), and 5 of 8 at the free throw line (62.5%).
The Huskies will be back on the road Thursday when they travel to Ferris State for another GLIAC battle starting at 7:30 p.m. Tech will then face Lake Superior State on the road Saturday at 1 p.m.
