Lenz leads Huskies with 14 points
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women’s basketball team dropped its first contest of the New Year, falling at No. 1 Grand Valley State (93-52) at the GVSU Fieldhouse on Thursday evening.
“We did get better looks in the second half and shots started to fall–we took better care of the ball but then we started giving up more offensive rebounds,” said Michigan Tech head coach Sam Clayton. “Kloe and Ella were a great spark for us off the bench and Dani did a really nice job taking care of the ball. There’s a lot to learn from today. Grand Valley’s a really good team and coached well so we have some things to learn from this to turn it around on Saturday.”
Michigan Tech (4-7, 1-2 GLIAC) fell behind early as Grand Valley State (13-1, 3-0 GLIAC) connected on three of its first four shots from 3-point land paired with a bucket from inside by the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, Rylie Bisballe on the first made basket of the day to pull ahead of the Huskies 11-2 in the first five minutes.
The Lakers pesky full court press proved to be an issue for the Black & Gold who coughed up the ball seven times in the opening quarter to make it 22-7 at the end of the first quarter in favor of the home team.
GVSU stayed consistent in the second frame, reaching 22 points for a quarter again, with the Huskies finding more success offensively as the game went on with 3-pointers by first-year guard Kendall Standfest and sophomore guard Brittney Mislivecek making it a 44-19 affair heading into halftime before a campus-wide power outage halted play for over an hour.
The extended pause in action helped the Huskies settle into the game as they shot 50 percent from the field in the third quarter including 3-for-4 from 3-point range. However, GVSU also rose to the occasion also shooting 50 percent from the field in the period, outscoring the Black & Gold 29-16 to hold a 73-36 advantage heading into the final frame.
Freshman Ella Mason and senior veteran Isabella Lenz each recorded five points in the first quarter back from the power outage.
The Huskies kept pace with the Lakers for the most part in the final frame, scoring 16 points compared to GVSU’s 20 points, however the deficit was too much to overcome as Grand Valley State cruised to a 93-52 victory in the return to GLIAC play following the holiday break.
Lenz scored a team-leading 14 points and was joined by sophomore guard Dani Nuest with three assists. Kloe Zentkowski tied her career-high with seven points off the bench. Graduate transfer Janie Tormanen recorded a team-leading four rebounds.
Bisballe scored a game-leading 15 points in 13 minutes as Sydney Cherney had a team-leading eight rebounds including three offensive boards.
Up Next
Michigan Tech concludes the first roadtrip of 2025 with a Saturday Matinee at Davenport slated for a 1p.m. tipoff.
