Houghton, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's basketball squad (11-11 overall, 6-9 GLIAC) battled defending national finalist Michigan Tech University (15-5 overall, 10-4 GLIAC) even for 27 minutes, but the Huskies pulled away in the final 13 mintues for a 78-65 triumph over the Warriors at the Student Development Center.

WSU started out strong out-scoring MTU 14-7 over the first five minutes of the game.  The junior trio of Phaebre Colbert (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern), Juanita Cochran (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill) and Paige Sickmiller (Romeo, Mich.) tallied six, five and three points, respectively to jump start the Warrior offense.

The Huskies responded with an 8-2 run but Wayne State answered and led 26-21 after a Chloe Srebernak (Grosse Pointe, Mich. / South) lay-up with 8:30 remaining.

Imari Redfield's (Detroit, Mich. / Country Day) lay-up ended a 9-1 Michigan Tech spurt which had put the hosts ahead 30-29.  The score was tied at 36 at intermission.

There were three lead changes in the first two minutes of the second half but after a Cochran basket, the Huskies tallied seven straight points for a 46-40 advantage before a Colbert lay-up and a pair of Cochran free throws made it a two-point game (46-44) with 13 minutes left.

A 10-3 MTU spurt put the Huskies ahead 56-47 with 8:30 remaining.  Back-to-back buckets by Sickmiller and Cochran cut the deficit to five (56-51), but Huskies Sam Hoyt sandwiched a two-pointer around two triples for eight consecutive points for the home team to regain the nine-point advantage (64-55) with just under six minutes left.

The Warriors never were able to get closer than nine the rest of the way.

Colbert tied Hoyt for game-high scoring honors with 23 points.  Cochran added 20 points with Sickmiller tallying 11 points.

Wayne State shot 46 percent (26-of-56) from the floor compared to 51 percent (28-of-55) for Michigan Tech.  The Huskies made eight triples with the Warriors only making one of 10 shots from beyond the arc.

For one of the few times this season, WSU was out-rebounded, 34-30.

Wayne State returns to the Matthaei next Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 1 p.m. tip-off against Northwood on Pink Wave Day as well as Doc Andrews Day.