Huskies Handle Pride 67-60 at the SDC Gymnasium Thursday
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Purdue Northwest | 10 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 60 |
|
Michigan Tech | 18 | 8 | 16 | 25 | 67 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team saw six players score seven or more points in the 67-60 win over Purdue Northwest at the SDC Gymnasium on Thursday afternoon.
Michigan Tech moves to 11-9 overall and 7-5 in league play, while the Pride fall to 9-13 overall and 4-8 in the loop.
"I was super proud of the way we came out with defensive urgency," head coach Sam Clayton said. "I think when we weren't scoring in the second quarter our defensive urgency fell and that can't happen–I'm glad we learned before it got away from us and we adjusted in the second half. A lot of players stepped up and I was happy with how we responded in the second half after that second quarter."
The Huskies controlled the opening quarter with the reserves scoring eight-straight points from back-to-back triples by Emma Anderson and a jump shot by Lydia Schaible, giving Michigan Tech its biggest lead (16-5) with 3:16 to play. Alex Rondorf and Sara Dax also hit 3-pointers for the Black & Gold in the opening minutes to start the offense.
Purdue Northwest gained momentum in the second quarter, propelled by a 15-point takeover from Kennedy Jackson, who connected from 3-point range three times in the quarter. PNW jumped out to as much as a seven-point lead (31-24) with two minutes to play in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Huskies hit a dry spell offensively, scoring just six points in the first nine minutes of the quarter before a basket on the low block by Emma Anderson cut the Pride's lead to five points heading into the halftime break.
The Black & Gold regained the lead following an and-one by Isabella Lenz and a 3-pointer by Alex Rondorf on the next possession, making it a 36-35 advantage for MTU with 6:22 to play in the quarter. The Pride closed the quarter strong with four unanswered points in the final 1:39, allowing PNW to hold a four-point edge with 10 minutes left in regulation (46-42).
Michigan Tech got timely 3-pointers from Anderson, Tessa Leece and Alyssa Wypych in the latter stages of the fourth quarter to help the Huskies hold a two-possession lead at 61-55 with 3:03 to play.
Isabella Lenz also came up clutch in the fourth quarter with six points down the stretch, allowing the Huskies to pull out of reach of the Pride and give the home crowd a win in the first game back in the SDC Gymnasium in almost a month.
"I think we started out slow but we picked it up in the second half and Alex was all over the place for us," Lenz mentioned. "Everyone played their role and gave us good minutes so we'll look to build off of that on Saturday."
Isabella Lenz and Emma Anderson scored in double-figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Alex Rondorf neared her career-high in rebounds with a team-high 13, while scoring eight points and dishing out four assists.
Kennedy Jackson and Dash Shaw reached double-figure scoring with 19 and 16 points respectively. Jackson and Mercedes Simmons accounted for eight rebounds to lead the Pride.
Up Next
The Huskies return to action in the SDC Gymnasium on Saturday, welcoming Parkside for a noon tipoff.
