Michigan Tech guard Alyssa Wypych drives around a Davenport defender during a game Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball faced the top-ranked Grand Valley State Lakers and lost their third game of the season Friday at the SDC Gym. Saturday, the Huskies bounced back with a win over the Davenport Panthers.

With the win, the Huskies improved to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in GLIAC play this season.

Huskies 71, Panthers 65

The Huskies got a career-high 24 points from junior guard Alyssa Wypych and senior forward Janie Tormanen recorded a double-double in a 71-65 team-effort win over Davenport at the SDC Gym Saturday afternoon.

Wypych shot 7-of-12 from the field (58.3%), 2-of-4 from long range, and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe to lead all scorers. Tormanen recorded her second double-double of the season, shooting an efficient 8-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-5 from the free-throw line for 20 points while pulling down 11 rebounds, five on the offensive glass.

Sophomore guard Ella Mason also reached double-figure scoring, finishing with 16 points while going a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line and 3-of-6 from deep.

“It was a hard-fought win. We could’ve done a lot of things better, but we ended the first quarter well,” said Huskies coach Sam Clayton. “Overall, Janie stepped up for us and did a little bit of everything for us. It was great to see Alyssa come out and look to score.”

In the second GLIAC game in a row, the two teams combined for five points and 1-of-9 from the field through the media break, with the Huskies holding a 3-2 edge.

Michigan Tech finished the quarter on a 12-0 scoring run with seven points from Tormanen, with two baskets in the paint and an and-one to conclude the run in the first quarter, making it 15-6. Wypych had a long two-pointer and Mason chipped in a 3-pointer during the run.

Tormanen continued to provide offense for the Huskies and gave her team the largest lead of the day (19-11) early in the quarter, although Davenport would knock down three 3-pointers to hang around before senior guard Soraya Timms found Wypych on a fastbreak to head into halftime leading the Panthers 28-23. Tormanen had a game-high 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and six rebounds at the half.

Following the halftime break, both teams utilized the 3-point shot, with Mason knocking down two and Wypych adding one. Davenport got 11 points from Nevah Williams, who hit three of the team’s four triples in the quarter to cut the Huskies’ lead to four points with 2:01 to play in the third.

With 0.5 remaining, Mason drew a shooting foul from the top of the key and made three from the foul line to reclaim a multi-possession lead with a score of 52-45 in favor of the Huskies heading into the fourth quarter.

The Panthers would keep it interesting down the stretch, with a 6-0 run midway through the quarter to cut the Huskies’ lead to one point, following a 3-pointer by Maddie Geers to make it 57-56 with 4:12 to go.

However, the Huskies quickly got layups on their next two possessions before Wypych scored five-straight points, cashing in on two free throws before finishing an old-fashioned three-point play 50 seconds later to give Michigan Tech a six-point cushion with 1:36 to play.

It was a free-throw contest for the final 1:13 as the Huskies saw two free throws made by Wypych and then Timms to ultimately seal the game 71-65 and wrap the opening weekend of the GLIAC play in 2026 with a split.

The Huskies won the rebounding battle 33-30 and shot 87 percent from the free throw line (20-of-23) and produced 32 points in the paint.

Timms had a game-high six assists to go with six rebounds.

Geers led four Panthers in double-figure scoring with 17 points as Axtell had a team-high seven boards to go with seven points.

Lakers 73, Huskies 53

The Huskies trailed No. 1 nationally-ranked Lakers by seven-points with one quarter to play, but ultimately fell to Grand Valley State, 73-53, in the SDC Gym Friday afternoon.

Mason netted her fourth 20-point outing of the season to lead the Huskies as Wypych added 13 points on 3-of-6 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

“They hit three’s early and that was our game-plan, we didn’t want to get it inside-obviously we saw they have an unbelievable post player but they’ve also got an unbelievable team,” said Clayton. “It was good to see our team compete and we made a good run up until halftime. We have to start stronger in the first and second half and that will be an adjustment coming into tomorrow.”

Grand Valley State made five of their first six shots including three 3-pointers to jump out to a 13-5 advantage in under four minutes played.

Both teams went on a scoring drought that extended to the media timeout with 4:08 to play before the two teams traded 3-pointers. The Lakers ultimately held a 10-point advantage after the first quarter with Mason drawing a foul on a half-court buzzer beater, connecting on 2-of-3 from the charity stripe to make it 23-13.

Michigan Tech scored six unanswered points to start the second quarter while forcing four Laker turnovers early in the quarter. Mason made it a six-point affair with a jumper from close range, 25-19, at the 7:03 mark. By the media break, Grand Valley once again pushed the lead to double-digits, 31-21.

The Huskies outscored the Lakers in the second quarter 16-12 with six unanswered points to start the quarter while six turnovers. Wypych contributed six points in the quarter as Michigan Tech cut the deficit down to four points with 1:14 to go in the half, 33-29, off a layup by junior forward Maja Kozlowska.

A layup by Avery Zeinstra concluded the scoring and put the visitors back ahead by six points.

The Lakers opened the third quarter similar to the game, knocking down two shots from 3-point land to extend the lead back to double-digits. However, the Huskies finished the third quarter strong with five unanswered points including a 3-pointer from Wypych while holding the Lakers scoreless for nearly four minutes to make it 50-43 with one quarter remaining.

The Huskies struggled to find offense and rebounds in the fourth quarter as the Lakers held them to their lowest scoring quarter of the game, allowing 10 points while producing 23 on the offensive side.

The Lakers shot lights out, connecting on nine of their 12 attempts which included 3-5 from 3-point land, shooting 75 percent in the final ten minutes while holding Michigan Tech to 10 points and 2-12 from the field, both being 3-pointers from Mason.

Grand Valley entered the quarter ahead by seven and got up to a 20-point advantage by the conclusion of the game.

Tormanen had a team-leading six rebounds as sophomore guard Kendall Standfest had a team-high four steals and five points.

Bisballe led all scorers with 22 points on 9-13 shooting and a team-leading seven boards. Paige Vanstee and Nicole Kamin also reached double-figure scoring.

Kamin reaches 1,000

Kamin, an Escanaba native, hit a 3-pointer just 1:45 into the contest to score her 1,000th career point at Grand Valley State.

Up next

The Huskies will complete a four-game homestand next week, facing Northern Michigan on Thursday and Ferris State on Saturday.