Dave Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Michigan Tech’s Cassidy Trotter drives around a Purdue Northwest defender during a game Saturday at the Wood Gym

By EDDIE O’NEILL

eoneill@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — It was the like the tale of two teams for the Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team over the past week. The first “team” lost miserably on Thursday to UW-Parkside, 62-40. However, the same “team” showed up on Saturday to defeat the Purdue Northwest Pride, 79-54, at the Wood Gym.

“We met with the players after Thursday’s game and talked with them about their mentality, being aggressive, playing confidently, believing in themselves, and believing in each other,” coach Sam Hoyt said. “I think that made a big difference in how we played today compared to the Parkside game.”

The stats of the two games tell a similar story of one team with two very different results. On Saturday, the Huskies not only nearly doubled their score as compared to Thursday, but shot 48.3 percent as compared to 27 percent two nights before. From three-point range, the Huskies shot 41.4 percent on Saturday in contrast to a dismal 18 percent on Thursday.

“When the ball goes in, we win,” Hoyt said. “That’s what happened today.”

The Huskies scored first when junior Abbie Botz found Ellie Welsh behind the three-point arc within the first first 30 seconds of the game. Purdue Northwest then countered with two baskets.

The first quarter was a low-scoring affair. After six minutes of play, the score was tied 6-6.

Sloane Zenner added a flair to the first quarter as she poured in back-to-back three-pointers with roughly three minutes on the clock. She would close out the first quarter with another three and the Huskies were ahead 19-10.

“It was great to see Sloane hit those three-pointers,” said Hoyt. “Once she started hitting them, everybody else was feeling better about their shot.”

In the second quarter, the Huskies shut Purdue Northwest down as they took a 29-point lead with just over four minutes left in the half. The Pride however did post a 14-0 scoring run to close the half at 40-25.

There was no turning back for the Huskies in the third and fourth periods as they bumped the lead up to 20 points in the third and never allowed Purdue back into the game.

Cassidy Trotter led the scoring charge for the Huskies with 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Her almost triple-double did not go unnoticed by her coach.

“I’ve been waiting for her to show up and have a break out game,” said Hoyt. “She is capable of scoring and going to the glass. Overall, I am super happy for her.”

Ellie Mackay followed with 16 points, and Zenner had 12.

The Huskies improved to 6-4 on the season and 3-1 in the GLIAC. They will have a week off before battling Lewis next Saturday at the SDC, and then they are on the road to Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 19. Both are non-conference games.

“This was a big win,” said Hoyt. “We have work to do this week at practice such as working on our offensive execution and not turning the ball over so much.

“However, it is nice going into these next two games with a win.”