Huskies overcome Wildcats in Houghton 78-53
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Northern Michigan (5-3,1-1 GLIAC) | 14 | 15 | 17 | 7 | 53 |
|
Michigan Tech (7-1,2-0 GLIAC) | 19 | 22 | 17 | 20 | 78 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Katelyn Meister tallied a season high 20 points and the Huskies defeated Northern Michigan 78-53 Monday night at SDC Gymnasium in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball game. It was the fourth win in a row for Michigan Tech (7-1, 2-0 GLIAC). The Huskies outscored the Wildcats 48-18 in the paint and established a fast pace of play to create turnovers and disrupt NMU's inside pressure. Northern Michigan's (5-3, 1-1 GLIAC) top scorer Makaylee Kuhn managed 19 points and shot 6-for-19 from the field.
"Katelyn was really good for us," said head coach Sam Clayton. "She has been very efficient because she makes great reads both attacking on the perimeter and posting up and making a move. She really does a good job making fakes and then taking what the defense gives her.
Meister finished 9-for-11 from the floor and 2-2 from the free throw line. She also added a team high four assists, one block, and one steal. Ellie Mackay also contributed offensively with 15 points (7-for-15) and three assists.
The Huskies shot 54-percent overall, including 42-percent from beyond the arc.
Following a poor shooting start for both teams, Mackay, Alex Rondorf, and Daisy Ansel jump-started the Huskies from the 3-point line. Mackay led the way with 11 points in the first half as the Huskies outscored Northern Michigan 22-15 in the second quarter, shooting 52-percent (18-34) for a 41-29 lead.
The Wildcats connected on 35.5-percent of shot attempts and committed eight turnovers, compared to two for MTU. Kuhn posted 13 first half points for the Wildcats and nabbed six rebounds.
"It was great to see us adjust and trust our offense after a slow start in the first few minutes," Clayton said. "Then we created some good runs. We got rhythm threes and some chances at the rim in transition."
The Huskies continued to push the pace in the second half as Meister's points total steadily climbed. Each team put up 17 points in the third quarter, but the Huskies drew separation in the fourth after Sloane Zenner connected for three from the corner with a shade under three minutes to play. Tech broke NMU's full court press and cruised to a 20-7 final quarter edge. MTU limited their turnovers to eight in the contest.
Rondorf was effective on both ends of the court with 10 points, three steals, two rebounds, and a pair of assists on 4 of 7 shooting. Ansel pitched in nine points and Sara Dax finished with seven.
"We out-hustled them tonight," Rondorf said. "We stuck to our game plan and trusted what coach was telling us and that made the difference today. We didn't want to give them anything easy. Just trusting in our teammates and playing composed was what we tried to do."
The Huskies scored 20 points off 16 Wildcat turnovers and nabbed seven steals.
"It was nice to get contributions from pretty much everybody in various ways," said Clayton. "Defensively, I thought our urgency was good. We outscored them (NMU) by a wide margin, which was phenomenal. I'm really proud of our effort in that area because it's not easy to do against a team that has several players over six foot two."
The Huskies continue their stretch of four games in seven nights when they host Lake Superior State on Thursday, December 9 at 5:30 p.m. at the SDC Gymnasium. Tech, Ferris State (8-1), and Grand Valley State (6-1) remain the only loss teams in the conference coming as of Monday night.
