Tech women roll past Lake State
Courtesy of MTU Athletics
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women’s basketball team defeated Lake Superior State 65-40 on Saturday (Feb. 1) at the SDC Gym after 13 Huskies entered the scoring column. Tech improves to 14-4 overall and 12-2 in the GLIAC.
The Huskies scored the first nine points of the second half and went on a 14-2 run to extend a 14-point halftime lead to 26. The defense held the Lakers without a field goal for the first eight and a half minutes of the second half.
Tech led by as many as 29 with 2:05 remaining after free throws by Morgan Anderson and a layup by Benna Heise.
“I really liked the way our starters set the tone early,” Tech coach Kim Cameron said. “I’m proud of the way every single player came in ready to go and kept the pace of the game flowing.”
All 14 Huskies played with Jillian Ritchie scoring a game-high nine points on 3-for-3 shooting. She also added four assists, two blocks and two rebounds.
“We had such great defense, holding them to only one point for that long stretch in the second half,” Ritchie said. “We take so much pride in our defense and that’s always the key for us.
“It’s fun to see everyone involved. It was a total team effort today and we couldn’t ask for anything else.”
Danielle Blake added eight points and nine rebounds. Mackenzie Perttu scored nine and Emily Harrison tallied eight. Anderson (6), Kylie Moxley (6), Kerry Gardner (5), Paige Albi (3), Heise (3), Heather Kessler (2), Taylor Stippel (2) and Kelcey Traynoff (2) also scored for the Black and Gold.
Tech jumped out to an 11-point lead (18-7) in the first 9:28 of the game and built the margin to 16 with 66 seconds left after a Taylor Stippel jumper. Ten different Huskies scored in the opening half with 12 seeing the floor.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 38.1 percent (24-for-63) from the floor and 3-for-9 from 3-point territory. Tech also made 14-for-16 from the free throw line and held a 45-41 edge in rebounding.
The home team scored 18 points on 19 LSSU turnovers and had 12 assists compared to only three for the visitors.
LSSU (5-15, 5-9 GLIAC) had four players score five points and shot 25 percent (13-for-52) from the field. The Lakers made only 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from three and 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
The Huskies wrap up the three-game home stand on Monday (Feb. 3) against Northern Michigan. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. to kickoff Winter Carnival week.
“Northern’s going to be tough,” added Cameron. “They’re big and physical. The SDC is going to be rocking, and we’re going to have to come ready to defend our home court.”