MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team led by as many as 10 points in the first half and held a four-point edge with 1:21 to play in the third quarter, before ultimately losing to No. 20 nationally-ranked Northern Michigan, 68-57 at the Vandament Arena on Thursday evening.
The Huskies (15-10, 9-8 GLIAC) were led by 17 points from Soraya Timms and 10 from Ella Mason as Kendall Standfest added eight points and a team-best nine rebounds. Maja Kozlowska also chipped in eight points and five rebounds in almost 21 minutes of action.
"The story of the game was definitely rebounds—for a team that can score like they can, you're not going to keep getting stops," said Tech head coach Sam Clayton. "Their guards were beating us to the ball and credit to NMU, they played hard and we came out with a ton of energy and played well, just not well enough in the second half."
Michigan Tech came ready for the moment and had a promising first half, shooting 58.3 percent through two quarters while hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers.
Timms was a near-perfect 4-of-5 shooting in the half from downtown and added two free throws to lead all scorers with 14 points while dishing out three assists. Dani Nuest was once again a spark off the bench with two 3-pointers (2-2).
Meanwhile, Northern Michigan (22-5, 13-4 GLIAC) was held to 33.3 percent from the field and 6-of-19 from trey to be trailing the Black & Gold 38-32 entering halftime with CJ Romero (10), Addison Pytleski (8) and Jacy Weisbrod (8) all hitting two 3-pointers in the half.
After leading by four following free throws by Mason with 1:21 to go in the third quarter, the Wildcats finished strong, with an 8-0 run. run capped by a fastbreak 3-pointer by Weisbroad to take a four-point edge and the momentum into the final period.
The Huskies earned four points early in the fourth by Kozlowska and Standfest to tie the game at 51-all with 7:34 to play, although back-to-back 3-pointers put the home team back ahead by six before the media timeout at 5:28.
The Wildcats lead was cut to two points off a layup by Kozlowska and an assist by Timms, but the Huskies would fail to score down the stretch, as NMU 6-of-8 from the charity stripe the final 42 seconds to decide the game 68-57, backed by eight offensive rebounds in the final quarter.
Weisbrod led a trio of Wildcats in double-figure scoring with 16 points. Alyssa Hill pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to go with four points.
Up Next
The Huskies conclude a four-game road trip with a tricky Monday contest at Ferris State, slated for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff, before closing the regular season with home games on Thursday and Saturday.
