David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Michigan Tech’s Owen White looks to get around a Davenport defender during a game Saturday at the Wood Gym.

HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team put another victory in the win column on Saturday as they defeated the Davenport Panthers, 70-44, in GLIAC action at the Wood Gym. The victory was a team effort as all of the Huskies saw time on the court and points in the score column.

It was quite a contrast to their 53-35 loss against Grand Valley State on Thursday where the Huskies shot 26.9 percent from the field. Saturday, the Huskies doubled their points and shot 49.1 percent. Part of that, according to senior forward Elizabeth Kelliher, was overcoming timidity.

“I think we got a little bit timid against Grand Valley with their shot-blocking ability and their length,” she said.

Head coach Sam Hoyt agreed that her team was more aggressive in shooting and on defense on Saturday as compared to Thursday.

“We had to have that same defensive urgency that we had on Thursday (against Grand Valley), and now we had to take it a step forward offensively,” she said.

That translated into her squad attacking the basket harder; looking for good inside-out shots and getting points in the paint.

“All of our girls played with a lot more confidence looking for their shots and understanding that they were all scorers,” said Hoyt.

Kelliher poured in the first basket off the tip off and the Huskies never looked back as they held the lead from the first minute to the last.

After Kelliher’s deuce, junior guard Ellie Welsh sunk a three and junior forward Abbie Botz hit a jumper to make it 9-0 at the 6:02 mark.

In the second quarter, the Huskies continued on their offensive roll putting up 16 points to the Panthers 11, ending the half with a 35-25 lead.

Kelliher said that when shots start falling from fellow players, everyone wants to get in on the action.

“It helps a ton being able to space the floor and share the ball. To have people to kick the ball out to and knock down shots, is really huge,” she said.

Coming out of the half, the Huskies continued their ball pressure and half court trap. Such pressure rattled the Panthers (5-12 overall, 7-3 GLIAC) as they tried to establish any kind of effort to get back into the game. Davenport committed 25 turnovers and the Huskies were able to score 27 points off those mistakes throughout the game.

In the fourth quarter, the Huskies held Davenport to just three points. With a 20-plus point lead, Hoyt was able to get in some of her bench players to close out the 40 minutes. These included freshman guard Clara Johnson and senior forward Isabella O’Brien. In 10 minutes of play, the 6-foot-2 O’Brien pulled in one offensive and one defensive rebound and hit a layup for the team. In six minutes on the court, Johnson sunk a three pointer and had two rebounds of her own all in front of a coach with a big smile and adoring teammates going wild on the the sidelines.

“I was really happy for them both,” said Hoyt. “They are both aggressive and confident and it was good to see their success.”

Ellie Mackay the led scoring for the Huskies with 14 points. Cassidy Trotter ended the game with 12 points and Kelliher sunk 10. Equally impressive was the play of the bench. The non-starters poured in 22 points in the game.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Hoyt. “I think we outscore the other team’s bench every single game. I can’t say every single game, but it never surprises me because we have Hanna Hobson, Ellie Mackay and sometimes Sloan Zeller (coming in). No matter who we bring off the bench they are all a scoring threat.”

The Huskies will need their starters, their bench and everyone in between again this week as they will face Northern Michigan University (14-4 overall, 9-1 GLIAC) at Marquette on Saturday. The Wildcats sit atop the GLIAC in first place along with Ashland and Grand Valley State.

“It is good to come off a win going into a big rivalry game,” said Hoyt. “I’ve been looking forward to this game since I got the job here. Having played here, (I know) that this rivalry never dies.”