HOUGHTON, Mich. – The eighth-ranked Wayne State University women's basketball team (4-1 overall, 2-1 GLIAC) had its lowest scoring output of the season in falling 68-55 at Michigan Tech (7-0, 4-0 GLIAC) Saturday afternoon.
A jumper by junior
Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich. / Durand) with 8:12 left in the first half gave the visiting Warriors a 20-10 advantage. At that point in the contest, WSU was 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) from the floor and 4-of-5 from the foul line with just two turnovers.
However for the rest of the opening 20 minutes, Wayne State was just 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) from the floor with three turnovers in the final four minutes but still trailed just 29-27.
Senior center
Shareta Brown (Pontiac, Mich. / Grand Blanc) led WSU with eight points and 11 rebounds at intermission with Long contributing seven points off the bench. Emily Harrison was the Huskies leading scorer at halftime with 11 points off the bench.
The Warriors were able to get within one (30-29) following a lay-up by Brown at the 19:25 mark but Michigan Tech responded with a 9-1 run over the next three minutes to open a nine-point margin (39-30).
WSU's deficit remained at least four points for the next 13:30 until an 8-0 spurt by the Warriors cut the MTU lead to 55-53 with 3:10 left. The Huskies were held scoreless from 9:09 until 2:48, a span of 6:21.
Following an MTU bucket, Wayne State was whistled for an offensive foul away from the ball as Brown was making lay-up that would have made it a two-point game again. Morgan Anderson made two free throws pushing the Huskie lead to six (59-53).
Michigan Tech made nine of 10 free throws in the double bonus in the final 58 seconds to seal the win.
Brown notched her 52
nd career double-double with 20 points and 21 rebounds, while senior
Ondrea Hughes (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Loy Norrix) and junior
Destiny Lavita-Stephens (Grand Blanc, Mich. / Goodrich) each chipped in with 10 points for the Warriors.
Anderson led MTU with 17 points with Kelli Guy contributing 15 points. Danielle Blake had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Wayne State will conclude its U.P. road trip with a 3 p.m. contest on Monday at Northern Michigan.
