Huskies Fly Past Purdue Northwest 86-40

• Box Score

WESTVILLE, Ind. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team capped another solid week with a convincing 86-40 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Purdue Northwest Saturday afternoon. The Huskies held the Pride to single digit point totals in three of the four quarters on their way to their fifth straight win and fourth triumph in the conference.

"This was another great team victory for us today on the road," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kim Cameron said. "After the first five minutes, we were able to get things rolling both offensively and defensively with everybody contributing. Following the hard fought win in overtime at Grand Valley State on Thursday, our players did a great job refocusing and being ready to play today. We showed great intensity all the way through to the end even after we were able to build a sizeable lead in the second half.

"To hold a team to single digit point totals in three quarters is a very difficult thing to do. Our defense in the second half was even better than the first and everyone made big plays for us. We'll go to work again this week and prepare our game against rival Northern Michigan next Sunday."

Michigan Tech (10-1, 4-0 GLIAC) and Purdue Northwest (1-7, 1-3 GLIAC) traded baskets at the outset of Saturday's game with Lanie Allen giving the Pride a 2-0 lead on the first field goal of the afternoon. Junior Elizabeth Kelliher tied the contest at 2-2 a few seconds later and then senior Lindsay Winter pushed the Huskies in front for the first time at 6-4 with 7:42 remaining in the first quarter.

The Pride then countered with an 8-0 scoring burst on their way to a 12-6 advantage. Taylor Vauters sank a jump shot with 4:35 on the clock to cap the run. Still trailing by six points at 14-8 with 3:02 to go in the opening quarter, Tech turned the tide of Saturday's game. Kelliher knocked down a jumper to make it a 14-10 score before grabbing a 16-14 edge on a triple from senior Kelli Guy with 28 seconds to go.

The Huskies' defense came up with multiple stops and continued to shut down the Purdue Northwest offense through the second quarter. The Pride didn't score again until the 4:58 mark of the second period and didn't pick up another field goal until a triple by Shae Rhonehouse with 3:26 to play until the halftime break.

Meanwhile, Michigan Tech's offense outscored Purdue Northwest 36-8 during the final three minutes of the first quarter through the end of the second. Seven different players delivered points during that stretch for the Huskies, led by Winter with 12 points. Senior Elisa Jurmu had a pair of three-point buckets on her way to a career high 13 points in Saturday's win. Senior Hannah Stoll knocked down a jumper for the final points of the half, sending Tech into the intermission with a 44-22 advantage.

Michigan Tech outscored the Pride 28-8 in the second quarter and carried the momentum forward into the third and fourth quarters as well. The point differential in quarter number three was 16-9 and then in the fourth the Huskies added 26 more points compared to just nine for the Pride. By the time the buzzer sounded, 13 different players had points for the Huskies in Saturday's contest.

Winter paced Michigan Tech with 14 points after firing in 4 of 6 shots from the field, including a trio of attempts from behind the arc. Jurmu followed with a career high 13 points off the bench that were generated on three triples and five total field goals. Stoll followed with nine points while Kelliher chipped in with eight points, seven rebounds, and five blocked shots. Junior Michelle LaFave tossed in eight points, junior Isabella O'Brien had seven points, and sophomore Abbie Botz collected six points. Sophomore Baillie McGirk and freshman Cassidy Trotter shared the team lead in assists with five.

As a team, the Huskies found the target on 35 of 60 attempts from the field (58.3%), were 11 of 19 from three-point range (57.9%), and 5 of 6 at the free throw line (83.3%). Tech commanded the paint with a 43-29 advantage in rebounding while the defense forced 14 turnovers by the Pride.

Allen led Purdue Northwest with 16 points followed by Danielle Nennig with six points. Ellie Michalski had five points and eight rebounds while the Huskies held leading scorer Shae Rhonehouse in check with three points. The Pride converted 13 of 58 shots from the field (22.4%) and were 2 of 11 from behind the three-point arc (18.2%).

The Huskies will be back in action on Sunday December 17^th when they travel to Marquette to battle GLIAC rival Northern Michigan. The tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.