HOUGHTON - It was just another second-half show for the Michigan Tech Huskies as they defeated the Northern Kentucky University Norse 69-49 in a Midwest Regional quarterfinal game Friday night.
The No. 3-ranked Huskies team played tight with NKU for the first 22 minutes, but then the sleeping giant awoke.
The Huskies rolled out 17 straight points to take a commanding 55-40 advantage with 11 minutes left, and from there the Huskies held on.
"We made a few adjustments and tried to do a few different things to combat what they were doing, luckily enough, it worked," Tech coach John Barnes said.
"They also missed some shots in the second half, so that confidence and that high that they were rolling on in the first half went away a little bit in the second half."
The victory advances the hometown team to Sunday's semifinal at 4 p.m. against the winner of Wisconsin-Parkside and Findlay, who will meet today at 1 p.m. in the fourth quarterfinal, postponed by the Oilers' travel delays.
The Huskies took several sizable first-half leads, including a five-point lead seven minutes in, and a six-point lead 12 minutes in, but the Norse fought back every time.
Jessie Carmack's 3-pointer with 3:57 left tied the game for the fifth time, and then a Brandi Rayburn triple with 1:40 remaining put the visitors up for the first time, 26-25.
NKU held onto a slim 30-29 lead at half, and upped it to four with a Casse Mogan 3-pointer 17:48 in.
The Norse looked to be in control, but the senior-filled Huskies didn't panic.
"We knew we needed to buckle down and execute our game plan," Barnes said.
The Huskies did exactly that.
Tech cut the lead to two, and on the next NKU possession Wysocky read a perimeter pass and earned a breakaway that she easily put home.
From there it was like dominos, the Huskies knocking down shot after shot until eventually leading 55-40.
Lindsey Lindstrom scored seven, Danae Danen six and Wysocky added four assists during the run.
A Kelsey Simpson jump shot ended an eight-minute scoreless span for the Norse, but Northern Kentucky couldn't cut into Tech's lead, which grew to 20 before the final buzzer.
"We know Michigan Tech is awfully good and I thought we were as prepared as we could be, we came out in the first half and our kids did a good job," Northern Kentucky coach Nancy Winstel said. "You really have to match them shot for shot, you hope you can match them score for score, but you have to at least match them shot for shot.
"We did that the first half, we made shots, then in the second half I just thought we got sloppy."
The Norse went from shooting 57 percent in the first half to 22 percent in the second half.
Wysocky, who led the Huskies with 23 points said the run was made easier by the crowd of 2,123 who got louder with each basket made.
"When you go on a run like that and you get the crowd into it, it just motivates you and energizes you to keep the energy level high," Wysocky said.
Wysocky had a game-high 11 rebounds and six assists, Danen chipped in 18 points and Lindstrom scored 12 in nearly 20 minutes of action off the bench.
The Norse got 19 points from Mogan, a sophomore that Winstel said will be what the Norse build around, and 15 from Rayburn in her final collegiate game.
Northern Kentucky wasn't expecting to make a run to the NCAA Tournament, but the youthful two-time national champions gained some valuable experience from the opportunity.
"I told the girls that this spring and this summer you need to think about where you're sitting right now and how you feel," Winstel said. "We've got to raise the bar for next year."
Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette. com.
