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Michigan Tech Hangs On To Beat Wildcat Women
 This story was written by NMU Sports Information MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Wildcat women's basketball held a tight matchup Thursday night against rival Michigan Tech but were unable to sink the last chance effort to tie things up as they fell to the Huskies, 51-48, Thursday night in their final home game of the year. The women jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead half way through the first quarter before extending their lead to 10 points, up 12-2 with 3:44 left in the first. In just over six minutes of play, Makaylee Kuhn led the team in points with nine, including three shots from beyond the arc on three attempts. A last second layup from Erin Honkala gave the Wildcats the 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Huskies came within one partway through the second quarter but Jessica Schultz hit a two-point jump shot to go up 20-17 with five minutes to play in the opening half. MTU took their first lead of the night with 2:53 left to play in the half with the 21-20 score. The MTU women continued their run to the end of the half, going up 27-20 as the two teams went to the locker rooms for the halftime break. The women held the Huskies to the seven point lead late in the third quarter and Kuhn surpassed her career high point total with a made jump shot with three minutes left in the period, her 13th point of the night. Drawing a shooting foul with 14.4 seconds to go, Kuhn added to her impressive point total, improving to 15 on the night. Heading into the final quarter, the women trailed MTU, 36-31. The women drew within two points of the lead when Amber Huebner made a three-point shot from deep but the Huskies answered right back with one of their own to make it 43-38 with 6:18 remaining. Kuhn hit another three point shot, for a career best fourth time as she sunk another from the top of the arc for the 45-41 score. Jessica Schultz came up huge for the Wildcats shortly after with a monster block on the other side of the court as the Wildcats regained possession, trailing by just four points. With 3:46 remaining in the quarter, MTU fouled Kuhn yet again. She hit the first shot but her second attempt bounced off the rim. Elena Alaix grabbed the offensive rebound but the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on the opportunity and found themselves still behind, 45-42 with three minutes left. Schultz was awarded two free throws and took advantage of both to bring her team back within one of their foe. After Erin Honkala kept the Wildcats within one, the Huskies were called on a traveling violation but a missed layup gave MTU the ball back with less than a minute to play in regulation. With 23.4 seconds left, Jessica Schultz made a free throw to come back within one possession of the lead, down 51-48. Erin Honkala stripped the ball in the back court but it rolled out of bounds with 16 seconds to play to give the Huskies the ball back. After calling timeout to advance the ball, the Huskies once again turned things over and the Wildcats had 13.7 seconds to tie things up and force an overtime period. A missed three-point jump shot in the final seconds sealed the deal for NMU as they fell to MTU, 51-48. Based on the outcome of tonight's game, the women will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin next week to face Parkside in the first round of the GLIAC postseason tournament. The game between the Wildcats and Rangers will take place on Tuesday, March 3. |
