Huskies WBB loses Heartbreaker at Winona State, 59-56

WINONA, Minn. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team led for more than three quarters but were unable to overcome a poor shooting fourth quarter, falling to Winona State 59-56 at the McCown Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

"I thought we competed hard. Kate and Sara were aggressive in the post which was good to see," head coach Sam Clayton said "We just didn't come up with the baskets we needed in the 4th quarter. We'll get to reset this upcoming week and be ready for conference play."

Michigan Tech (5-5, 1-1 GLIAC) shot 21.4 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, making 3-of-14 as Winona State (4-8, 3-4 NSIC) went 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) and 8-of-13 from the charity stripe.

The Huskies jumped out to an 11-3 advantage in less than five minutes played, going to the block multiple times with Katelyn Meister starting the scoring before the Huskies would rattle off three-straight 3-pointers. Sara Dax, Isabella Lenz and Emma Anderson off the bench, accounted for the 3-pointers.

Sara Dax scored five points down the stretch with a layup in transition and a 3-pointer to conclude the first half with a 10-point edge.

Winona State outscored the Huskies 16-11 in the second quarter, stringing together a 10-0 run in the middle portion of the quarter, with Olivia Gamoke making two timely assists in the run. 

Dax accounted for seven-points in the latter stages of the second quarter with a layup by frosh Alyssa Wypych in the mix to sustain a five-point lead heading into halftime, 27-22.

Tech went 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, with Lenz going 4-of-4 to extend the lead to 11 with 2:06 to go. Lenz totaled 11 points in the third quarter, hitting two jump shots and a 3-pointer.

Winona State ended the third quarter with a 9-2 run with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Huskies lead to four (45-41).

WSU took its first lead of the game with 6:03 to play with an 8-0 run to the 4:51 mark, forcing head coach Sam Clayton to take a timeout with the Huskies trailing 51-47.

Lenz would tie the game with less than two minutes to play with a 3-pointer. Moments later, Winona State would regain the lead off of a free throw by Mattie Schimenz.

The Warriors would take two timeouts at 25 seconds to play following free-throw misses and an offensive rebound. WSU would head to the foul line with seven seconds to go after a foul on the inbound pass, allowing a three-point advantage with Tech to inbound.

On the other end, the Warriors fouled immediately to send Lenz to the line and retain a one-point lead following two made free-throws with five seconds to play. 

Emma Carpenter would hit two more free-throws to close the game as the Huskies had to inbound without any timeouts, being unable to get off a quality shot with the final being 59-56. 

Lenz led the Huskies with 19-points and six rebounds. Dax accounted for 17-points and six rebounds, while Katelyn Meister finished with nine points and six rebounds.

Alex Dornfeld had a team leading 13-points while Hailey Markworth had a team-high seven rebounds for Winona State.

Up Next

Michigan Tech returns to action in the New Year, taking to the road for GLIAC play, traveling to Grand Valley State (Jan. 4) and Davenport (Jan. 6).