HOUGHTON, Mich. — Lake Superior State played the role of spoiler in tonight's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball contest at the SDC Gym. The visiting Lakers defeated Michigan Tech, 56-53, to keep the Huskies from earning the GLIAC North Division title outright. Instead, Tech (20-7 overall and 13-5 in the league) will share the title with Northwood, who also finished at 13-5 in the North.

The lead changed hands six times in the opening half. Seven points from Lucy Dernovsek helped Tech erase a six-point deficit with 7:41 to go in the frame. Jaclyn Armstrong's jumpshot bounced in as the buzzer sounded to give LSSU a 30-29 lead at the break.

Tech opened the second half with a 6-0 run and held the Lakers scoreless for nearly four minutes. Katie Zimmerman's two pull-up 3-pointers in a 90-second span gave Huskies their biggest lead of the game at 48-40. LSSU answered with an 11-2 run to grab a 51-50 lead with 4:00 to play.

Neither team scored again until the 2:20 mark, when Armstrong tacked on a free throw for a 52-50 Laker advantage. Zimmerman buried another triple — this one with a nice shooters bounce at 1:22 put the hosts on top, 53-52. Armstrong drained two more free throws at :55 to push the lead back to LSSU. The teams traded turnovers before senior Catherine Rottier misfired on a would-be game-winning runner with five ticks remaining.

Armstrong was fouled at :03 and made two more foul shots to push the score to 56-53. In a play similar to the end of Tech's win over Northern Michigan last Wednesday, the defense converged on Danae Danen as she tried a 3-pointer at the horn to tie the game. The officials conferred, but decided not to call a foul.

"We struggled shooting and taking care of the ball," said head coach John Barnes. "They made the big plays at the end of the game and we didn't. We need to put this behind us and focus on Grand Valley State Saturday."

Danen finished with team highs of 15 points and seven rebounds. Zimmerman added 12 points — all on 3-pointers. Katie Wysocky scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds.

Tech shot 37 percent from the field including a 5-of-20 mark from 3-point range. The Lakers made good on 41 percent from the floor and utilized a 35-32 rebounding advantage.

Michigan Tech will begin play in its record 18th straight GLIAC Tournament Saturday (March 1) when it hosts Grand Valley State. Tipoff at the SDC Gym is slated for 2 p.m.

Note: Tech freshman Lisa Staehlin returned from injury to play in her first game since Dec. 15.