WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — With a win on Friday over Lewis and then a drubbing of Upper Iowa on Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team opened their season with a pair of wins at the D2 Midwest Region Tip-off.

With the two wins, the Huskies are 2-0 to start the season.

Huskies cruise past Peacocks Saturday

The Huskies allowed the fewest points by an opponent since Nov. 16, 2011, defeating GLVC affiliate Upper Iowa, 70-30, Saturday night to wrap the D2 Midwest Region Tip-Off in the Wisconsin Dells.

Ironically, the last time the Huskies allowed fewer points, coach Sam Clayton was a sophomore on the team, scoring six points in the 62-26 win over Finlandia at the Wood Gym.

“I thought it was another great defensive effort by our team. I’m happy to come away with 2 big in-region wins,” said Clayton. “We have a lot to learn from both games, but a lot to build upon.”

Fifth-year guard Kaitlyn Maxwell scored her most points as a Husky, finishing with 14 points (5-of-6), including 10 fourth-quarter points as senior forward Janie Tormanen led all scorers with 16 points on seven-of-nine shooting to go with six boards. Sophomore guard Kloe Zentkowski garnered a career-high 11 boards, adding four points as 10 total Huskies scored in the game.

Sophomore guard Kendall Standfest also reached double-figure scoring with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Huskies rattled off a 10-0 run after opening the game trailing 5-0. Standfest accounted for six of the MTU’s points, including an old-fashioned three-point play following an offensive board while recording a block before the media timeout with 3:12 in the quarter.

Michigan Tech’s defense was lethal in the middle portion of the period before the Peacocks found a five-point spurt to conclude the first quarter, trailing the Huskies 13-10.

Maxwell provided a boost off the bench in the second quarter with back-to-back baskets to extend Michigan Tech’s lead to nine at 21-12, extending the Huskies’ run to 23-4 dating back to the first quarter.

Tormanen quietly reached a game-high eight points with under 15 minutes of game time, shooting four-of-five from the field to go with four boards.

Standfest joined Tormanen as the game-leaders with eight points apiece, the Peacocks broke the long scoring drought with an and-one by Sydnee Nelson to make it 27-12. The Huskies’ defense was too much for Upper Iowa to handle as the Peacocks shot just 23 percent from the field through two quarters (6-of-25).

By the under-five media timeout of the third quarter, the Huskies had doubled up the Peacocks in points (38-19) after opening the period shooting 75 percent from the floor (six-of-eight) while holding a 6-1 advantage in rebounds. Tormanen accounted for eight of Michigan Tech’s 23 points in the period while holding Upper Iowa to another 15.4 percent shooting quarter heading into the fourth quarter ahead 48-21.

Maxwell netted ten of the Huskies’ 22 points in the fourth quarter. Michigan Tech’s largest lead came with 3:23 to play (67-24) following two free-throws by senior forward Maja Kozlowska.

Michigan Tech won the rebounding battle 44-22, with 10 offensive boards, also seeing 33 bench points and 36 points in the paint.

The Huskies shot 42.6 percent from the field while holding the opponent to 20.4 percent and just 3-of-23 from deep.

Nelson led the Peacocks with seven points while Bryar Duwe had a team-leading six rebounds.

Team effort lifts Huskies over Lewis in season opener

The Huskies led from wire-to-wire and saw three players reach double-figure scoring in the season-opening win over GLVC affiliate Lewis, 68-55, at the D2 Midwest Region Tipoff hosted at the JustAGame Fieldhouse on Friday night.

Senior guard Soraya Timms, in her first game for Michigan Tech since the 2022-23 season, led the Huskies with 17 points and four assists. Junior guard Alyssa Wypych added 14 points and a team-high nine boards as Tormanen shot six-for-seven from the field for 13 points, adding a team-leading three steals.

“I’m really proud of our team for defending a really good Lewis team well tonight,” said Clayton. “Our offense got a little stagnant in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but Alyssa, Soraya and Janie all came up with big plays when we needed them.”

The Huskies led from the opening tip and shot 41.7 percent from the field while winning the rebound battle 25-13, including seven offensive boards in the first half. Michigan Tech jumped out to a 25-11 advantage after the opening period, shooting 61.1 percent from the field while holding the Flyers to 28.6 percent on 4-for-14 shooting.

Timms shot 50 percent (4-8) in the opening half to lead all scorers with nine-points and a team-leading three assists. Zentkowski, Wypych and Standfest had five first-half rebounds, with Zentkowski snagging two off the offensive glass.

The Huskies were outscored 14-13 in the third quarter before winning the fourth quarter 21-18, shooting 70 percent from the field while going five-for-six from the charity stripe.

Yahaira Bueno netted a game-high 21 points for Lewis as Ally Cesarini and Mallory Ramage grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

Up next

The Huskies will take to the road next week, traveling to Minnesota for a game at Minnesota-Duluth on Thursday before traveling to St. Cloud State Friday. Both games are slated for 5:30 p.m. EST.