Wypych posts career-high 20 points in 74-68 win at St. Cloud State
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The Michigan Tech women’s basketball team bounced back from Saturday’s loss with a 74-68 victory over St. Cloud State at Halenbeck Hall on Sunday afternoon. Michigan Tech moves to 4-2 overall, while St. Cloud State suffers its first loss for a 3-1 ledger.
“It was a great team win,” Michigan Tech coach Sam Clayton said, “A lot of different players contributed in different ways. Alyssa started us off strong with five 3-pointers early. Then our offense slowed down in the second and third quarters.
“Everyone chipped in as needed in big moments. I thought Emma and Sara were both really efficient for us in the post which was great to see.”
The Huskies led from the start, with Sara Dax getting to the rim after winning the jump ball. First-year guard Alyssa Wypych produced 12 points for the Black and Gold, hitting her first four 3-pointers to make it a 10-point game at the 5:14 mark. Wypych would conclude the first quarter with 15 points to make it 27-13 with one quarter in the books.
Michigan Tech would sustain a double-digit lead until the 1:43 mark in the second frame from a layup by SCSU’s Abigail O’Reilly to make it 33-25. Brittney Mislivecek and Dax scored in the final minute of the first half, to hold a 37-30 advantage into halftime.
The Huskies from St. Cloud State made things interesting, outscoring Michigan Tech 16-10, with half of SCSU’s points coming from Morgan Draheim, who also had two steals in the third quarter. Draheim even hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining in the quarter, making it a one-point game with 12 minutes left in regulation.
St. Cloud State would not go down without a fight, taking its first lead since the first quarter early in the fourth before Michigan Tech answered with an offensive rebound and putback by Alex Rondorf to retake the lead for the final time.
Dax put the game out of reach for the Minnesotan Huskies with an and-one layup, notching Isabella Lenz’s seventh assist at the 2:39 mark to make it 64-59. Dax would strike again a minute later with another layup, forcing SCSU to foul down the stretch.
Michigan Tech went 10-for-11 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to seal the win and stop the losing streak at two games.
Wypych, for the second-consecutive game, notched a career-high in points, scoring 20 to lead the Huskies offense. As a team, MTU shot 54.9 percent from the field while also winning the rebounding battle with a 32-24 advantage over SCSU. Katelyn Meister had 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. Two more Huskies scored in double-figures as Lenz chipped in 14 and Dax with 11.
St. Cloud State saw Morgan Draheim lead the Huskies with 16 points and five rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Huskies will conclude their trip to Minnesota with a tilt against Concordia-St. Paul on Tuesday (Nov. 28) slated for a 7 p.m. tipoff.