Fourth-Ranked MTU Beats FSU At Wink Arena

Postgame Audio File: Tracey Dorow & Tiara Adams
(MP3 Version) - (Windows Media Version)

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State women's basketball team battled nationally fourth-ranked Michigan Tech for much of the way, but in the end the Huskies proved worthy of their ranking with a 75-58 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) win over the Bulldogs on Saturday (Jan. 30) at Jim Wink Arena.

The Bulldogs cut a 10-point MTU halftime lead down to only three with 14:37 to play. However, the Huskies went on a 21-2 run over the next six and a half minutes to push the margin to 22 points with 8:07 left and never looked back.

The victory was the eighth-straight for MTU, which improved to 18-1 overall and 13-1 in the GLIAC. Ferris State dropped to 5-14 overall and 4-10 in conference play with its fifth consecutive league setback.

"Our effort level was much better in this game and our defense moved well for the most part," said FSU head coach Tracey Dorow. "We didn't back down from them and did a good job of staying aggressive, but we have to shoot the ball better than we did.

"They're a great team and they made a lot of good plays," Dorow added.

Michigan Tech senior guard Katie Zimmerman paced the Huskies with a game-high 26 points and connected on a school-record eight three-pointers, including five in the second half.

Zimmerman was joined in double-figures by both Danae Danen and Katie Wysocky, who netted 14 and 13 points, respectively. Wysocky added 13 rebounds in a double-double effort.

FSU junior forward Tiara Adams kept the Bulldogs close early with 10 points in the opening frame and finished with a team-best 16 points and 11 boards while posting her own double-double showing. Two sophomore guards, Kelsey DeNoyelles and Tricia Principe, both added 11 points each with DeNoyelles contributing eight rebounds and Principe grabbing seven.

The Bulldogs were held to only 29.5% (18-61) shooting for the game with Michigan Tech sinking 52% (26-50) of its field goal tries. The Huskies were nine-of-21 (42.9%) beyond the three-point line and 14-of-16 (87.5%) at the free throw line.

Meanwhile, FSU finished with an eight-of-14 (57.1%) effort behind the arc and converted 14-of-20 (70%) free throws.

The Bulldogs were outrebounded 40-35 for the game, but did come away with 16 offensive boards compared to only seven for the Huskies, which helped FSU post a decisive 19-5 edge in second chance scoring.

Ferris also forced 16 turnovers and had only 12 of its own.

Overall, FSU tallied 12 assists, nine steals and two blocked shots with the Huskies netting 21 assists, six blocks and five steals for the game.

Saturday's contest represented Kids Day and a number of youth were on hand for special activities throughout the day.

The Bulldogs will continue their four-game conference homestand next week by hosting Hillsdale on Thursday, Feb. 4, in their annual Pink Wave Night game to honor breast cancer awareness. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (EST).

FSU then hosts Findlay on Saturday, Feb. 6, with the starting time set for 12 p.m. (EST) inside Wink Arena.

Bulldog Bites: The win was Michigan Tech's 14th in the last 21 series' encounters ........ Junior guard Stephanie DeNoyelles contributed six points for FSU in her second game back from injury after seeing her first action of the year on Thursday night versus Northern Michigan ........ The Bulldogs held their only lead by scoring the first basket of the game only 11 seconds into the contest ....... Tricia Principe was three-of-six beyond the three-point line for the Bulldogs ..... The Huskies held FSU's freshman frontcourt combination of Katy Fox and Leah Kebler scoreless in the outing ..... FSU remains ninth overall in the GLIAC standings with eight games left to play and trails both Northwood (6-8) and Lake Superior State (6-8) by two games. The top eight teams at the end of the year advance to the conference tournament.