Huskies’ women earn new coach first win
Michigan Tech holds off Winona State late
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HOUGHTON -- With 15.5 seconds left, new Michigan Tech Huskies women's basketball coach Eric Gruber was essentially out of options. His team held a slight edge, 66-65, but did not have the ball. Seconds later, fifth-year guard Kaitlyn Maxwell was heading to the free throw line with the game in her hands.
Maxwell made one of the two free throws, putting the Huskies (1-0 overall) up by two. The Winona State Warriors bobbled the rebound on the second attempt, and Michigan Tech got the ball back. Moments later, sophomore forward Claudia Frances dropped two free throws and the Huskies sealed the win, 69-65, Gruber's first with Michigan Tech.
"It was a very resilient win, dealing with a lot of just players down, going down during the game," he said. "I told them that was one of the most proud wins I’ve been a part of as a team, which is (because we were) fighting through stuff.
"I mean, it’s no secret Soraya (Timms) and Alyssa (Wypych) are the preseason All-Conference kids. It’s not just somebody being out. Then, we have three others out besides them. Now Brit (Mislivecek) could be out. So, I was just really proud. It’s just the next person up mentality, and they really bought into that."
The Huskies were behind early 7-4, before Mislivecek, a senior guard, hit a 3-pointer from the high left side of the arc to even things. That freed things up for Frances, who had two threes in the opening quarter.
Frances finished her night with four 3-pointers on five attempts, and a team-high 16 points.
"Claudia, if you look at her stats from UMKC (Missouri-Kansas City) where she was, she did not attempt a three," said Gruber. "So, being able to expand her game is just going to make her more and more dangerous. She can do it both inside, outside, pass it.
"She was awesome tonight. The only thing I was mad at her for was foul trouble. That made it tough again. You take her out, now you’re even shorter on that side. So, she was awesome."
The Huskies trailed by four, 18-14, heading into the second quarter. However, it was during the next two 10-minute stretches that the Huskies did the most damage.
In the second quarter, with the Huskies down six, 24-18, senior guard Dani Nuest stepped up, getting a layup. She then got the ball back quickly and hit a three from the top of the key, and suddenly the Huskies trailed by just one. Frances added another three, and then Maxwell made back-to-back plays with an offensive rebound and layup, and then a jumper, and suddenly, the Huskies led 33-27.
In all, Michigan Tech scored 23 points in the second quarter, then added 23 more in the third.
"I think a big thing is when players can play free, it’s going to be a lot better," Gruber said. "I told them, 'I’ll take you out for mental mistakes, or repeated mistakes. It’s not, you missed a shot.' So, they have to play free."
The Huskies could not keep that intensity up in the fourth quarter, but Gruber said he expected that.
"The weardown in the fourth quarter, I wasn’t surprised by at all," he said. "Dani had some cramping. We’re down to essentially six who were playing in that rotation. So, it was hold on.
"I think they knew it wasn’t the end of the game. Obviously, we’re up and they weren’t giving up or anything like that, but we just had to fight for however many minutes are left. They got stops when they needed, and knocked down some free throws. That was huge."
One of the highlights of the third quarter was a stretch where the Huskies were rolling and freshman guard Janessa Eagle hit back-to-back threes in a little over 30 seconds of game time. She finished with seven points in 10 minutes of playing time. Another freshman, Abbie Pietila, played 32 minutes and also finished with seven points.
"I talked to her (Eagle) at one point," said Gruber. "I was like, 'Shoot when you’re open. Take care of the ball. Simplify it.' Then she went and got a great offensive rebound. So, you could see, I think she was a little, probably, fast; sped up early on. Then she settled in. It was definitely a lot better.
"Abbie played a lot as a freshman, too, and it’s a lot to put on a freshman. Both of those freshmen, in your first game, and it’s that atmosphere, and that close of a game that’s a lot to deal with. So, I think they did a really good job."
Up next
The Huskies will travel to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, Friday, to face Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.