Meister Nets Season-High 18 Points; Huskies Prevail over Panthers Saturday

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team bounced back from Thursday's loss against No. 1 ranked Grand Valley State with a 59-51 victory over Davenport to conclude the first road conference weekend of the season at the Davenport Student Center on Saturday afternoon.

"I thought our leaders stepped up today and it started with Kate and Sara," head women's basketball coach Sam Clayton said. "Alex didn't score today but she also played hard and did a lot for us defensively. I also thought Maja played really well, she got some offensive rebounds and made some big shots for us."

Michigan Tech elevates to 6-6 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play, while Davenport falters to 2-11 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

The two teams battled through the first 10 minutes of action, with Tech finding offense on the low block from Katelyn Meister and Sara Dax, each contributing four points. Meister also make things happen defensively with a block and a steal in the first quarter. Davenport's Ellie Toney hit a 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining in the quarter to make it a tie game at 12-all.

Davenport held a lead from the early stages of the second quarter to the 5:19 mark when Meister completed an and-one layup to make it 21-all, with Dax connecting on a 3-pointer on the following possession to regain the lead. Dax also assisted on a Tech 3-pointer from Rockford, Michigan, native Alyssa Wypych with 1:36 to go in the first half. Meister made it a four-point game heading into halftime with a 3-pointer of her own that Wypych assisted on to make it 32-28 in favor of the Huskies.

Meister chipped in six-points in the third quarter as the Huskies outscored the Panthers 15-11. Emma Anderson and freshman guard Brittney Mislivecek each knocked down a 3-pointer with under 5 minutes to play in the quarter, giving the Black & Gold an eight-point cushion (47-39) heading into the final quarter.

Maja Kozlowska, hailing from Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland, had five points, three rebounds and a block in the fourth quarter with a putback layup at the 2:53 mark to push Tech's lead to eight-points.

The Huskies shot just 3-for-10 in the fourth but went 6-for-9 from the charity stripe down the stretch as the Panthers were forced to foul. Isabella Lenz went 3-for-4 while Wypych hit both free-throws with less than a minute to play to take the win by a score of 59-51.

Meister scored a season-high 18 points to lead the Huskies offensively. Dax also made it into double-figure scoring with 11 points on 4-for-6 from the field. Meister, Kozlowska and Lenz each recorded five rebounds. Kozlowska also netted a career-high nine points, shooting 4-for4 from the field and 1-for-5 from the charity stripe.

Lillee Gustafson and Mary Liedel each scored a team-leading 13 points, with Gustafson having a team-high nine rebounds for Davenport.

Up Next 

The Huskies return to the SDC Gymnasium to continue conference play, welcoming Ferris State on Thursday and Lake Superior State Saturday.