Huskies Hope for NCAA Tournament At-Large Berth
HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The Michigan Tech women's basketball team got off to a slow start in its GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal vs. Lake Superior State tonight and was never able to recover. The Lakers took advantage of their early lead and walked away with a 64-50 victory in front of 1,009 fans at the SDC Gym.
Both teams' offenses were cool to open the game. LSSU turned a 6-5 lead at 13:00 into a 20-9 advantage by the 7:00 mark. Catherine Rottier scored five straight points including a three-point play with 3:01 left to pull the Huskies back within six. Lake State answered with the next five points before settling for a 29-21 margin at halftime. Tech shot just 25 percent in the opening frame, but kept itself within reach by making eight-of-nine free throws.
The lead remained in double figures for the most part of the second half. Senior center Amanda Sieja sank a baby hook shot for her first field goal of the evening with 5:56 to play. The bucket brought the hosts within 50-44 and energized the home crowd. Neither team was able to score for nearly three minutes until Rottier swished a jumper to cut the deficit to four with 3:06 showing on the clock.
LSSU went to the free throw line each of its next four trips down the floor and made seven-of-eight shots. Tech, meanwhile, missed all three of its foul shots including the front end of a one-and-one. Sieja and Rottier both tallied baskets in the final two minutes, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from closing out the game on a 14-4 run.
Michigan Tech shot a respectable 46 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game at 36 percent -- slightly better than Lake Superior State's 35 percent field goal shooting. The Lakers held a 42-33 rebounding margin and hit eight three-pointers on 19 attempts compared to three by the Huskies on the same number of tries.
Rottier tallied 19 points to go with five rebounds. Sarah Magee added nine points and three steals. Alicia Schneider was Tech's top rebounder with seven. Sieja, who had led the Huskies in scoring the previous four games, notched six points.
Michigan Tech (19-8) must now wait to see if it gains an at-large berth into the NCAA Great Lakes Regional to be held on a campus site March 10-13. Announcement of the 2006 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament field will take place Sunday, March 5, at 10 p.m.
