Michigan Tech guard Ella Mason extends to attempt a layup during a game against Wayne State Thursday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — For about 22 minutes out of 40 Thursday night, the Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team was right where they wanted to be, up by 12 points, 50-38, and playing well defensively in the SDC Gym. Then they hit a wall and never recovered.

The Warriors scored 48 second-half points and came away with a three-point win, 86-83. With the loss, the Huskies fell to 11-6 overall and 5-4 in GLIAC play.

Still, Huskies coach Sam Clayton found a silver lining in how the Huskies pushed back late after giving up the sizable lead.

“Always disappointing to have a loss, but it was great to see us fight back there late when it looked like it was out of reach, just continuing to fight,” she said. “Ella (Mason), made some big shots there.

“Obviously, our first half defensive execution was really good. They came out in the second half and made adjustments, honestly, with who they were playing, where they had a lot more shooters in. We couldn’t help as much, and that hurt us. We had to go 1-on-1 in the post, and 30 (Taylor Thompson) went off a bit in that third quarter. Then, if we were helping, then their shooters were hitting threes. They’re a dang good team. They’re deep.”

It did not help the Huskies that their shooters went cold just as the Warriors (13-4 overall, 8-1 GLIAC) heated up.

“I think in the third, we missed like five layups too,” said Clayton. “(That) changed the whole momentum of the game.

“Anytime teams go on a run, that can be tough. Being able to respond, shorten those, that’s kind of been one of our goals throughout the season, because that has happened. Teams have gone on long runs, something we’ll have to shore up for sure. Against these really good teams that we play against, they’re going to go on those. OK, we have to stop it. We have to create our own runs.”

While the

Senior guard Soraya Timms did a great job offensively through the first half, racking up 17 points. She started with a jumper in the first quarter with 3:20 remaining to put the Huskies up 12-7 at that point. A little over a minute later, she drove hard to the basket for a layup. She followed that up less than a minute later with a 3-pointer from the right corner off a quick inbounds play.

She sank two more 3-pointers in the first two and a half minutes of the second quarter to extend the Huskies’ advantage to five at 29-25.

“I love seeing her aggressive offensively,” Clayton said. “I think that does open up for others, so she needs to keep doing that, and she’ll keep getting eight, nine, 10 assists again, too.”

Timms’ final line was 20 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.

In the first half, sophomore guard Kendall Standfest also found her rhythm. She had six points in the first quarter, added four more in the second, and three more in the third before closing strong for 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting. She also racked up 11 rebounds for a double-double.

“It was great to see Kendall kind of back to her confidence,” said Clayton. “She was really aggressive. Her moves were explosive and decisive. That’s kind of what I expect to see moving forward. I feel like she kind of just needed a game to kind of flip it, and this was the game.”

The Huskies led 47-38 at half.

They jumped out to that 12-point advantage to start the second half, only to see McKenna Ferguson and Jaci Tubergen catch fire. Ferguson led the Warriors with 21 points in the game, Tubergen had 14.

Had it just been the pair, the Huskies might have withstood the Warriors’ push, but Thompson found her rhythm as well, which caused issues in the paint for the Huskies, who could not find an answer after senior forward Janie Tormanen left the game with 3:39 remaining in the first quarter and never returned.
Thompson made three layups and a jumper in the quarter, and the Warriors found themselves ahead, 63-60, with 10 minutes left to play.

With 4:35 remaining in the fourth, the Huskies were trailing by four, 71-67, when Mason, a sophomore guard, caught fire. She made a pair of free throws to get to 10 points in the contest, and then hit three 3-pointers over the remainder of the game to keep the Huskies close. She finished with a game-high 22 points.

Up next

The Huskies are back in action Saturday, when they host Purdue Northwest at 12 p.m. at the SDC Gym in Houghton.