Huskies Rewrite History in Statement Win at Wayne State

DETROIT, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team broke three single-game records enroute to a 95-75 statement win at Wayne State on Thursday afternoon.

The Huskies shot a jaw-dropping 73.5 percent to break the single-game best field goal percentage at a clip of 73.5 (36-for-49), in addition to lighting it up from beyond the arc. MTU shot an astounding 70.8 percent from 3-point land, breaking the best 3-point field goal percentage of 66.7 (8-for-12) by a mile while setting a new record with 17 3-point field goals made, besting the previous record of 16.

Michigan Tech elevates to 13-10 overall and 9-6 in league play to move into the fourth spot in GLIAC standings. Wayne State falls to 16-9 overall and 9-7 in the loop to move into the fifth spot.

"It's so easy to coach when you make shots–we just made shots," head coach Sam Clayton said. "To break all those records is unreal because that's a good defensive team–if we can do this against Wayne State, we can do this against anyone in the conference. We need to figure out how to bring this every night–you're not going to shoot that well every night, but the energy and the confidence was great."

The Warriors opened the game with three 3-pointers in the opening minutes to jump out to its largest lead at the 18-11 before making it a one-point possession following a 3-point barrage from the Huskies. Tessa Leece, Alyssa Wypych and Emma Anderson each cashed in from downton to make it 24-22 in favor of WSU with 1:13 in the first quarter. Alex Rondorf added to the early 3-point frenzy to tie the game at 26-all to close out the first 10 minutes of action, as the team shot 10-for-12 (83.3 percent).

Michigan Tech backed that high shooting quarter up, going 11-for-13 (84.6 percent), outscoring the Warriors 27-13. The Huskies hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, with Rondorf accounting for two while Tessa Leece and Isabella Lenz chipped in one apiece. Leece had seven of her new career-high 18 in the second quarter.

Wayne State was unable to keep up with the remarkable shooting, entering halftime trailing 53-39. 

The high percentage shooting cooled down in the second half, although the Huskies still paced 42 points in the second half, pouring in eight 3-pointers.

Emma Anderson sparked the Huskies offense in the third quarter, hitting back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the third quarter before Rondorf hit her fourth of the day at the 6:24 mark to make it 65-43.

Maja Kozlowska scored five-straight points for the Black & Gold, with Rondorf hitting her fifth triple of the game down the stretch as Anderson closed out the scoring in the quarter to make it a 29-point game with 10 minutes to play.

The Huskies cruised in the final quarter with Alyssa Wypych's 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, being the 17th 3-point make to break a record that stood since 2004. Anderson hit a jumper in the paint with 2:13 to play to secure her new career-high of 22 points. Maggie Napont hit a last second shot as well to solidify the 95-75 victory.

Anderson scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Huskies. Tessa Leece also hit a new career-high with 18 points as Kozlowska tied her career-high with 10 points. In total, five Huskies scored in double figures, with Rondorf scoring 15 and Lenz with 10 and a team-high eight rebounds to go with six assists. Kozlowska recorded a new career-high five blocks as well.

Taylor Thompson led the Warriors with 23 points and eight rebounds. 

Up Next

The Huskies conclude the final road weekend of the regular season on Saturday, traveling to Saginaw Valley slated for a 1 p.m. tipoff.