Story, photo courtesy of Michigan Tech Athletics
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Sophomore guard Kendall Standfest had a career day of 25 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists to propel the Michigan Tech women's basketball to an 89-76 victory and a series sweep over Lake Superior State at the SDC Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
Behind Standfest, Alyssa Wypych (22), Soraya Timms (17) and Ella Mason (11) also reached double-figure scoring. Wypych shot an impressive 8-11 from the field, going 2-4 from beyond the arc and 4-5 from the charity stripe. Timms added four assists and four steals as Kloe Zentkowski and Maja Kozlowska each recorded three blocks.
Michigan Tech improves to 13-8 on the season and 7-6 in the league while Lake Superior State drops to 5-16 overall and 2-11 in the loop.
"It was super important to come out strong tonight and I thought we came out confident and shooting well and obviously Kendall had a phenomenal game," Tech head coach Sam Clayton said. "It was important for us to get that win and play how we are capable offensively, we could take some steps on defense, but Lake State's a good team, credit to them too."
The Huskies were clicking on offense in the first half with an opening quarter of 25 points on 61.1 percent from the field, led by Standfest and Wypych with seven points, respectively. The Black & Gold followed up with a 58.8 percent shooting quarter to head into halftime ahead 49-35 with Wypych up to a game-high 15 points, followed by 11 points from Standfest, who also pulled down a game-high eight boards as Timms went 4-of-6 from the field to add nine points.
Half of Lake Superior State's baskets came from beyond the arc (6-19) while being held to 34.3 percent from the field and succumbing to six turnovers in the first half.
The Huskies gained separation to conclude the first quarter, going on a 9-4 run the final 2:25 before jumping ahead by as many as 16 points right before halftime off a layup by Wypych.
Lake Superior State put its best quarter together out of the halftime break, outscoring the Black & Gold 26-19 with 11 points from Grace Bradford. However, the Huskies headed into the final quarter leading by seven points off of two free throws by Wypych, who had a team-leading six points in the period.
The Lakers trailed by just three points following a 3-pointer by Lauren Aguzzi with 6:16 to play before Standfest scored seven-straight points to put the Huskies back up by 10 points with 5:11 to go off a 3-pointer and two trips to the free throw line, where she went 4-4 to regain a double-digit advantage.
The spurt by the Elk Rapids, Michigan, native was enough to keep the Lakers out of reach, as Timms (4) and Standfest (1) went 5-6 from the charity stripe with under a minute to play to decide the game at 89-76, the highest scoring GLIAC game for the Huskies this season.
Bradford recorded a double-double with a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Aguzzi (16), Dara Capaldi (13), Clare Conzelmann (11) and Chloe Watson (11) also reached double-figure scoring.
