March 14, 2010
Michigan Tech to Face Drury in Women's Basketball Midwest Region Final
HOUGHTON, Mich. - Top-seeded Michigan Technological University will face Drury University (Mo.), the No. 3 seed, in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Midwest Region Tournament. The winner will advance to the Division II Elite Eight Tournament in St. Joseph's, Missouri next week.
In Sunday's first regional semifinal game, Drury defeated the No. 7 seed, Northern Michigan University, 59-51. [Box score]
In the second semifinal, MTU downed GLIAC rival and No. 5 seed University of Findlay, 68-57. [Box score]
Game Recaps are below:
Release courtesty of David Faiella, NMU Sports Information Director
Even though the game was played on its rival’s home court it felt like a home game for the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats, who were the crowd favorite, faced the Drury Panthers in the first semifinal game of the day at the 2010 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Midwest Region. All the games of the tournament are being played at the SDC Gymnasium on the campus of Michigan Tech. Entering the tournament the ‘Cats were the seventh seed while Drury was the third seed.
NMU held a one-point lead after
20 minutes of play (27-26). Mariah Dunham led the ‘Cats
in the first half with nine points off the bench. But in the
end the Panthers defeated the ‘Cats 59-51 to move on to the
championship game while NMU ends its season. The ‘Cats
conclude the 2009-10 season with a 22-10 overall record. Drury
is now 28-6.
NMU took the early lead about
five minutes in after Dunham made both of her free throws
(4-2). Drury took the lead before Holly Cole sank a
three-pointer at 12:02 to even the game at nine-all. She came
back about three minutes later to give the ‘Cats a 14-12 lead
after her two free throws. The Panthers used a 12-2 run over
the next five minutes to take a 24-16 edge with 4:46 left in the
half. A three-pointer from Kellie Rietveld and a lay-up from
Angie Leckson and the ’Cats were down by one (24-23) with
under a minute to go in the half. Leckson then tied the game
with a made free throw before Drury connected from the charity
stripe for two, before Christa Erickson ended the half with a
three-pointer.
The second half began with the
‘Cats taking a 33-29 lead about three minutes gone. At
13:44 Dunham’s three-point play gave the ’Cats a
five-point cushion (38-33). Drury came back to take the lead
over again (39-38) with about 11 minutes left in the game. The
Panthers would hold the lead the remaining minutes of the
game. NMU did have the Drury lead down to 44-43 with 7:32 on
the clock after another three-point play from Dunham. Drury
held off the ‘Cats and with a little over a minute left in
the game, Dunham drained a three-pointer for a 53-51
score. The Panthers closed out the game with a 6-0 run.
Dunham led all scorers with 24
points as she was the lone ‘Cat in double-figures. Katie
Pritchard led Drury with 20 points. Dunham also led the
‘Cats off the glass with six rebounds.
For the game, NMU was 19-52 from
the floor (36.5 percent). From beyond the arc the ‘Cats
were 5-17 (29.4 percent). NMU was 8-13 from the charity stripe
(61.5 percent). Rebounds were in favor of the Panthers
(35-29).
Release courtesy of
Wes Frahm, MTU Director of Athletic Communications &
Marketing
Survive and advance.
That’s exactly what the No. 3-ranked Michigan Tech
women’s basketball team did today with a 68-57 victory over
Findlay in the NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal. The Huskies, who
have tied the school record for wins at 30, are into the sweet 16
for the second straight year and will face Drury Tuesday (Mar. 16)
night for the regional title.
The hosts seemed to be in control with a 15-point margin midway through the second half, but the scrappy Oilers had other ideas. UF hung around and worked back into an eight-point deficit on Maggie Gomper’s triple with 5:45 to go. Tara Ferris answered with a layup after head coach John Barnes called timeout. The Oilers came back with eight straight points including two easy fast-break layups from Kayla Brown to pull within 57-55 with 2:36 showing.
Lindsey Lindstrom stopped the bleeding with a huge, three-point play on a pass from Sarah Stream on the next possession. The Huskies’ defense then went to work, holding the Oilers to five missed shots and two turnovers over the next two minutes. Tech made eight straight free throws during the span to ice the win.
“Every game in the NCAA Tournament is tough,” said Barnes, who improved to 5-4 in NCAA Tournament games. “We missed some shots, and really relied on our defense down the stretch.
“We made a couple corrections towards the end of the game defensively, then made our free throws.”
Tech went 15-of-15 at the charity stripe for the game, improving their nation-leading percentage to 83.1 on the season.
Stream and Katie Wysocky posted matching game highs of 17 points. Stream added four steals and three assists while Wysocky recorded a game-high nine rebounds.
Lindstrom scored six in the game including what stood up to be the game-winning points on the three-point play.
Findlay (22-9) received a team-high 15 points from Laura Bardall and 13 more from Ashley Andrews, who helped her team outscore Tech 27-16 in bench points.
UF edged the Black and Gold in field goal percentage (41 to 40), but Tech had three more rebounds and two fewer turnovers.
Michigan Tech (30-2) will play in its sixth regional championship game on Tuesday and face Drury for the first time in school history. The Huskies are 2-3 in regional title tilts.
Notes: A crowd of 2,403 filled the SDC Gym, marking the fifth-largest in school history and the third straight game a top-10 crowd watched the Huskies … Katie Zimmerman broke the record for games played at Michigan Tech with her 125th.
The hosts seemed to be in control with a 15-point margin midway through the second half, but the scrappy Oilers had other ideas. UF hung around and worked back into an eight-point deficit on Maggie Gomper’s triple with 5:45 to go. Tara Ferris answered with a layup after head coach John Barnes called timeout. The Oilers came back with eight straight points including two easy fast-break layups from Kayla Brown to pull within 57-55 with 2:36 showing.
Lindsey Lindstrom stopped the bleeding with a huge, three-point play on a pass from Sarah Stream on the next possession. The Huskies’ defense then went to work, holding the Oilers to five missed shots and two turnovers over the next two minutes. Tech made eight straight free throws during the span to ice the win.
“Every game in the NCAA Tournament is tough,” said Barnes, who improved to 5-4 in NCAA Tournament games. “We missed some shots, and really relied on our defense down the stretch.
“We made a couple corrections towards the end of the game defensively, then made our free throws.”
Tech went 15-of-15 at the charity stripe for the game, improving their nation-leading percentage to 83.1 on the season.
Stream and Katie Wysocky posted matching game highs of 17 points. Stream added four steals and three assists while Wysocky recorded a game-high nine rebounds.
Lindstrom scored six in the game including what stood up to be the game-winning points on the three-point play.
Findlay (22-9) received a team-high 15 points from Laura Bardall and 13 more from Ashley Andrews, who helped her team outscore Tech 27-16 in bench points.
UF edged the Black and Gold in field goal percentage (41 to 40), but Tech had three more rebounds and two fewer turnovers.
Michigan Tech (30-2) will play in its sixth regional championship game on Tuesday and face Drury for the first time in school history. The Huskies are 2-3 in regional title tilts.
Notes: A crowd of 2,403 filled the SDC Gym, marking the fifth-largest in school history and the third straight game a top-10 crowd watched the Huskies … Katie Zimmerman broke the record for games played at Michigan Tech with her 125th.
