MTU scores season-high 27 points in first quarter
KENOSHA, Wis. – The Michigan Tech women’s basketball team earned its first road win at Parkside in program history in a defensive battle, coming away with a 65-60 decision on Saturday afternoon at the De Simone Arena, to complete the opening weekend of GLIAC play with a sweep.
For the fourth time this season, sophomore Ella Mason led the team in scoring with 18 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, joined by sophomore Kendall Standfest with 12 points and a team-leading six rebounds. Point guard Soraya Timms added eight points and recorded a career-high eight assists for the second consecutive game.
Michigan Tech elevates to 5-2 on the year and 2-0 in the GLIAC. Parkside drops to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.
“It feels amazing to beat Roosevelt and Parkside on the road. It feels really good and there’s a lot we need to work on, but we were pretty sharp overall today,” said Tech assistant head coach Elisa Pietila. “Parkside scored in the paint a little more than we would like, but we were really sharp from top to bottom and a good defensive effort for sure and a good win.”
Michigan Tech opened the game with a season-high 27 points in the first quarter despite trailing 11-7 at the 7:05 mark. The Huskies earned a boost from the bench with five-straight points from Dani Nuest, a free throw by Kloe Zentkowski and a trey from Kaitlyn Maxwell to take their first lead of the day (18-13) with 3:34 to go in the quarter.
The Huskies held a two-possession lead down the stretch with four points by Standfest, a jumper from Timms and a 3-pointer by Mason to make it an eight point advantage before free throws from Parkside made it 27-21 to conclude the opening 10 minutes.
Points were hard to come by for both teams in the middle two quarters as they combined for 34 points. The Huskies only mustered five points in the second quarter, while Parkside suffered seven turnovers while scoring nine points to head into halftime seeing the Huskies leading 32-30 before preserving a 42-40 edge entering the fourth quarter.
The Huskies forced 18 turnovers, nine in each half, while holding the Rangers to just 5-for-27 (19%) from beyond the arc.
Parkside took their first lead since early in the first quarter with 3:19 to play following an old-fashioned three-point play by Peighton Nelson (54-51), although points by Mason, Alyssa Wypych and a 3-pointer by Standfest with 1:33 to go forced Parkside to call a timeout. Timms knocked down a jumper in the lane the next trip down the floor following a missed trey by the home team, forcing Parkside to foul down the stretch, where Mason would go 4-for-4 and Maxwell added an additional free throw to decide the game at 65-60 after a 3-pointer from Arni with seconds to play.
Bugajski had a team-leading 14 points and nine rebounds. Cassidy Arni (14) and Peighton Nelson (11) also reached double-digit scoring, with Nelson adding a team-high seven assists.
Up Next
The Huskies take to the road for the final time in the fall semester, traveling to Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday, slated for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff.
