The Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team had a rough road trip to Minnesota this weekend, falling to the No. 17 Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears Friday, and the dropping a game to the Winona State Warriors Saturday.

With the losses, the Huskies dropped to 4-2 on season.

Golden Bears hand Huskies first loss of the season

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Golden Bears saw junior forward Lauren Wilson tie her season and career-high of 34 points, handing Michigan Tech its first loss of the season in a 78-61 decision at the Gangelhoff Center Friday night.

For the third-straight game, Michigan Tech was led in scoring by sophomore guard Ella Mason with 18 points on 50 percent from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Alyssa Wypych netted her third double-figure scoring game of the season with 10 points and a team-leading five boards as junior guard Dani Nuest scored a season-high nine points off the bench.

“I was disappointed with our lack of focus and defensive execution today,” said Huskies coach Sam Clayton. “Concordia is too good of a team and made us pay for every mistake. We’ll have to learn from it quickly and bounce back tomorrow.”

Concordia-St. Paul (4-2, 0-1 NSIC) knocked down its first three shots and forced three Michigan Tech turnovers in the opening three minutes to jump out to an 8-2 advantage.

Back-to-back jumpers by Mason made it a one-point game before Avery Moeller recorded her first 3-pointer of the game and the team’s third (13-9), shooting 50 percent heading into the media timeout with 4:13 to play.

The two teams traded baskets down the stretch, with Concordia-St. Paul making separation off five 3-pointers in the period, compared to two by Michigan Tech.

The Huskies shot 72.7% from the field in the first quarter, led by Mason with nine points on four-for-five shooting. However, Michigan Tech coughed up the ball six times and allowed five 3-pointers to the Golden Bears, who led from tipoff and had a lead of six-points three times in the quarter.

Lauren Wilson was the difference maker in the second quarter, scoring 17 of the team’s 26 points, with back-to-back 3-pointers to end the half with the largest lead of the game at 47-36. The Huskies took their first lead of the day early in the quarter with a basket by senior forward Janie Tormanen, making it 24-23.

The Golden Bears caused three more turnovers and went five-for-eight from the charity stripe, with a 14-7 run from the 3:22 mark, giving the home team separation with nine points coming from Wilson.

Nuest hit two 3-pointers and a foul shot in the first half as Mason led the way with 13 points while hitting all four of her free throws, as Tormanen added six points.

The largest lead of the second half came with 4:16 to go with Wilson connecting on another basket made while drawing the foul to make it 60-46 and show her point total swell to 27. Concordia-St. Paul took advantage of foul trouble by the Huskies, connecting on seven of 12 free throw attempts in the third quarter.

Wypych hit two 3-pointers in the quarter as Mason contributed five points and senior guard Soraya Timms banked home a 3-pointer as time expired, heading into the final quarter of play, trailing 67-54.

Eight unanswered points by Michigan Tech, capped by a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Kendall Standest at the 9:19 mark, made it a single-digit deficit for the first time since early in the third quarter.

However, the Golden Bears would maintain a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, with the lead swelling to as much as 17 points by the conclusion of the game.

Senior forward Maja Kozlowska played a season-high 17 minutes, accruing five rebounds and four points, as Mason and Timms produced a team-leading three assists.

Leah Dengerud (12) and Moeller (11) also reached double-figure scoring behind a double-double of 34 points and 13 rebounds by Wilson. Lydia Haack neared a triple-double with eight points, ten assists and nine rebounds.

Huskies fall to Warriors Saturday

WINONA, Minn. — The Huskies fell 78-54 at Winona State to cap a weekend trip to Minnesota.

Timms (13 points), Tormanen (11 points) and Standfest (10 points) scored in double-figures for the Huskies, as Tormanen added a team-high five rebounds.

“Credit to Winona, they played hard and came ready to go. We were a bit flat, let them get going offensively and then it was a long night for us,” said Clayton. “We’ll have to be tougher moving into conference play.”

Michigan Tech struggled out to find the offense needed to keep up with Winona State (4-3, 1-0 NSIC), going 8-for-28 from the field in the first half, including an 0-for-9 start from 3-point land. On the flip side, the Warriors made five 3-pointers and shot 37.5 percent from the field to head into halftime with a 34-19 advantage.

The Huskies outscored the Warriors 20-19 in the third quarter, shooting 61.5 percent from the field while knocking down 4-of-5 3-pointers. Timms led the way with seven points and five from Standfest to make it 53-39 with one quarter to play.

Winona State shot an incredible 83.3 percent in the final quarter of action, outscoring Michigan Tech, 25-15, earning its largest lead with 44 seconds to play (78-50) before the Huskies earned two free throw makes by sophomore guard Kloe Zentkowski and fifth-year guard Kaitlyn Maxwell recorded a steal, translating into a fastbreak layup with 18 seconds to play, deciding the game.

Wypych, Mason, and Maxwell chipped in five points for the Huskies as Zentkowski added a team-high two steals.

Breah Golden had a game-high 20 points, connecting on four of her five shots from 3-point land as Megan Schuman neared a double-double with 16 points and a team-leading nine boards. Vivica Bretton added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Warriors.

Up next

The Huskies shift their focus to GLIAC play with a road weekend, traveling to Roosevelt on Thursday and Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday.