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Michigan Tech Women Outlast Northern Michigan
 MARQUETTE---Michigan Tech led from wire to wire in a 63-50 victory at rival Northern Michigan Thursday night in GLIAC women's basketball. Jillian Ritchie scored 22 points to help the Huskies wrap up the regular season at 24-2 overall and 20-2 in league play. "It was a 100 percent team effort," said Tech coach Kim Cameron. "Our ball movement was really good on offense against a tough defense. We did nice job responding to their baskets and punching back at the right times." Tech held the Wildcats (17-9, 15-7 GLIAC) to two points during a 10-minute stretch of the first half to grab a 12-point advantage. The hosts worked back within six under a minute before Brenna Heise scored just before the buzzer for a 28-20 advantage. The Huskies got a 3-pointer from Kelli Guy and a jumper from Morgan Anderson to extend the margin to 13 in the first 80 seconds after halftime. NMU pulled within 35-26 at the 15:36 mark, but Guy answered with another triple for a 12-point lead. The margin stayed in double figures the remainder of the contest. Michigan Tech shot 49 percent for the game and held the hosts to 38 percent. The Huskies also had eight blocked shots and 12 steals, forcing 20 Wildcats turnovers. Ritchie's 22 points came on 7-of-10 field goal percentage. Anderson (11 points), Guy (10), and Heise (10) also reached double figures. The only starter to not score in double figures, Danielle Blake, perhaps had the best game. She posted game highs of 10 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and four steals to go with just two points. Blake was also responsible for defending NMU's Alyssa Colla. Colla scored a game-high 22 points for NMU and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Senior guard Lauren Gruber and senior forward Abbey DeBruin added 10 each. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Wildcats as NMU fell to 17-9 overall with a 15-7 GLAIC record. NMU will enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will travel to face No. 4 seed Grand Valley State Wednesday. Tipoff against the Lakers is set for 7 p.m. Michigan Tech, which won 20 conference games for just the second time in school history, owns home court advantage throughout the GLIAC Tournament. The top-seeded Huskies will host No. 8 seed Hillsdale in the tournament quarterfinal Wednesday (Mar. 4) at the SDC Gym. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. |
