David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech guard Kendall Standfest drives around a Minnesota State-Crookston defender during a game Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton

By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — With an 85-57 win over Bemidji State on Friday and a 90-68 loss on Saturday to Minnesota State-Crookston, the Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team split their short home stand this past weekend at the SDC Gym. With the win and the loss, the Huskies are 2-2 on season through four games.

HUSKIES STRUGGLE IN LOSS TO GOLDEN EAGLES

Despite an early lead that got as high as 13 points less than seven minutes into the game, the Huskies could not contain the Minnesota State-Crookston Golden Eagles in 90-68 loss Saturday.

Huskies coach Sam Clayton admitted that the Huskies are young at many key positions, and that played a part in how they performed in the loss.

“Obviously disappointing, especially defensively, giving up 90 points on your home floor,” she said. “We do have five underclassmen playing a ton of minutes, and (we were) just a step slow on rotations. Where Bemidji didn’t make us pay, we were able to recover. They missed some layups. Crookston made us pay for all those, and once they got on a roll, then they were making tough shots and we could just never catch up.”

While it hurt to have the early need and not be able to sustain that advantage, Clayton was more concerned with the fact that her group could not mount a response once the Golden Eagles found a groove.

“There was just a lack of response when they went on a run,” she said. “For us to just be able to come up with the big stops or make our own run. I think that’s part of having a really young team. They need to learn that, and they’re going to find that. They’re going to find that grit. They’re going to dig in, and we will learn from it on film, with repetitions in practice and just even being in these positions.”

Clayton felt that it is valuable for her team to experience a game like this early in the season.

“It’s great for our team to win by 30, to lose by 20-some,” she said. “It’s good. It’s good for us to learn from this and we will be better next weekend.”

The Huskies played a rotation that saw senior guard Isabella Lenz on the floor often with either freshmen like Kendall Standfest, Ella Mason, and Kloe Zentkowski, or sophomores like Dani Nuest and Alyssa Wypych. The only other veteran who saw time was fifth-year transfer Janie Tormanen, who is in her first season with Michigan Tech.

“I’m not going to say I anticipated this happening early, but with such a young roster, and limited numbers, and them playing a ton and learning a new defense,” Clayton said, “Yeah, a little bit, anticipated it. I know that they will learn and will gain that experience. We’re only going to get more bodies, and more experience, back and we’ll be in a better position later in the season.”

The Huskies held a 24-16 advantage by the end of the first quarter, but the Golden Eagles were already charging. In the second quarter, Emma Miller, who led all scorers with 31 points, caught fire, and she and her teammates put up 28 points in the that frame before adding another 27 in the third.

One positive for the Huskies, despite their struggles, was the play of Standfest. Playing 34 minutes for just the second time this season, she scored a career-high 17 points to drive the Huskies.

What made her more impressive, in Clayton’s view, was the way she battled.

“She was our toughest player tonight in every way,” said Clayton. “She rebounded. She created. She had the right mindset. Just watching her play, she had the right mindset. She has it. She has it.

“Proud of her for having such a great game, and she was really vocal for us in a lot of ways. She led us in a lot of ways as a freshman. I thought today, which was great to see, like I said, these young players getting so much experience. That’s great for her to step up like this in a game when things aren’t going well. We can’t ask much more of her, but she does have a high ceiling, and she will only get better.”

HUSKIES CRUISE PAST BEAVERS

FRIDAY

For the second-straight game, the Huskies saw four starters post double-figure scoring, led by Wypych with 16 points in the home opening victory over Bemidji State, 85-57, Friday evening.

Standfest recorded her second-consecutive double-double with 15 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds. Lenz had a quiet but effective outing with 14 points on 6-for-7 from the field.

Tormanen neared a double-double in her first career game for the Black and Gold with 12 points and eight boards. Nuest has scored in double-figures in back-to-back games with 11 points connecting on two triples.

Michigan Tech moves to 2-1 through non-conference play as Bemidji State falls to 0-1 in its season opener.

“I think we shared the ball really well-statistically we had 18 assists to only eight turnovers-I think that’s a great stat we’re hoping to keep moving forward. We still had some silly turnovers but we have a lot of young players playing a lot of minutes and learning but we shared the ball well and are playing unselfish basketball,” said Clayton. “It feels great to be able to play in the Wood Gym and we were able to come in and shoot with the confidence that we did. I was super happy to shoot it well on our home floor. Kendall naturally finds the ball and is athletic–she can do a little bit of everything and as a freshman seeing her growth and confidence is phenomenal and she’s only going to get better.”

The Huskies jumped out to an 11-0 start just over 3 minutes into the contest and didn’t look back. The Black and Gold shot 50% from the field in the opening half while making 5-for-9 from downtown to head into the halftime break with a 44-24 edge.

Wypych connected on her first three shots while Tormanen and Mason scored their first career points for Michigan Tech, hitting two free throws, apiece.

Michigan Tech was well-balanced in the second half, continuing to shoot over 50% from the field, highlighted by a 20-point fourth quarter going six-for-10 from the field, hitting two of three triples while also finding success at the foul line (six-for-nine).

“First home game is always so exciting and I felt like we did a good job channeling the energy,” Wypych added. “I thought freshmen have done a great job adjusting and they’ve come a long way and played great tonight.”

As a team, Michigan Tech recorded 11 steals and a season-high 18 assists. Nuest, Mason and Standfest recorded two steals in the second half, with Nuest finishing with a career-high five steals. Nuest also led the team with four assists, while Wypych, Lenz and Standfest and Zentkowski added three, respectively.

The Huskies lead got up to as much as 32 points in the fourth quarter thanks to a layup by Zentkowski to make it 73-41. Wypych scored the final basket for MTU with 23 seconds to play, although Bemidji State would get a jumper to fall before the final buzzer sounded.

Rachel Koenig led the Beavers with 15 points, while Ella Giorgi recorded a team-high eight rebounds.

UP NEXT

The Huskies head back out on the road for a pair of games Saturday and Sunday against St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth.