Huskies hold on late for road win
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 20-ranked Michigan Tech held off a furious second-half rally by Ohio Dominican to earn a 64-57 victory and remain undefeated. The Huskies had their 24-point first half lead cut to three with eight minutes to play, but timely 3-pointers from Jillian Ritchie helped Tech improve to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the GLIAC.
Michigan Tech coach Kim Cameron earned her 100th career victory during the contest. With a 100-28 record, she tied Darla Olson for being the fastest coach in program history to 100 wins.
The Huskies built up a 33-9 advantage 12 minutes into the action as Morgan Anderson buried four 3-pointers and Ritchie added three more.
The Panthers (4-7, 1-4 GLIAC) pulled back within 41-26 at halftime and carried the momentum into the second half.
Defensive pressure from ODU caused seven Tech turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the stanza. Two Ritchie 3-pointers were Tech’s only field goals during that time.
After the Panthers pulled within 48-45, they had two more possessions to potentially tie the score. Tech got two stops, then found Ritchie who buried her sixth triple of the game. After an ODU turnover, the senior knocked down her seventh trey to make the margin nine (54-45).
Tech finished off a 12-0 run with 2:53 to play, leading 60-45.
The hosts battled to the end, coming within 62-57 with 22 seconds remaining as Tech missed all three of its one-and-one free throws. Sarah LewAllen provided the final margin with two foul shots with :01 to play.
“You take anything away from a win,” said Cameron. “They’re a good team, and if we didn’t have that big lead to begin with we were in trouble.
“Jillian was our super senior today. She was our calm in the storm and hit big shot after big shot.”
Ritchie finished with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting including 7-of-8 from 3-point range. She also had 10 rebounds and two assists. Anderson notched 14 points—all in the first half. Danielle Blake also had 14 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists.
Tech shot 48 percent from the floor including 60 percent (12-of-20) from behind the arc. The Huskies committed 21 turnovers, but held ODU to 33 percent from the field.
Michigan Tech will next take its undefeated record to Tiffin on Sunday (Jan. 4) for a 1 p.m. tipoff.
(Information/Photo Courtesy of MTU Athletics)