By Tom Ramstetter HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Katie Wysocky scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead fourth-seeded Michigan Tech to a 70-51 win over No. 5 seed Northwood on Friday night in a NCAA Division II Midwest Regional quarterfinal at The Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University. The Huskies (25-6) will play top-seeded Northern Kentucky Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. at The Bank of Kentucky Center in a regional semifinal. It was Wysocky’s 17th double-double of the year and the third win over Northwood (21-8) for Michigan Tech this season. “You hate to expect it, but she’s had 17 this year,” Huskies coach John Barnes said of Wysocky. “You hate to take it for granted, but she does it quite a bit. I ask a lot of her and it seems like the more I ask the more she responds. I’m very proud of her and her work.” Northwood, making its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Tournament, was led by Sarah Glowacki’s 19 points and got 17 points from Karlie Leroy and 12 from Megan Starnes. “Of course nobody wants to lose,” Glowacki said. “But we got here. There’s next year. We set the bar pretty high for them next year.” Timberwolves coach Jeff Curtis thought the experience of two games against the Huskies this season would be an advantage, but his team shot just 30.5 percent from the field and 10 percent from 3-point range. “We knew what they were going to do,” Curtis said. “They did what we thought they’d do and they executed it well. “Tough game for us. We kind of ran into a bit of buzz saw. We did not shoot the ball well from the perimeter. We knew going into the game the way they defend we would have to knock down some outside shots if we wanted to contend.” Barnes thought his team was a bit better in the third matchup. “We played
Northwood twice during the regular season and it’s always
hard to play a team three times,” Barnes said. “I felt
like we came out and played good defense, obviously holding them
to 30 percent from the field. In both games we made runs down the
stretch. This one was a little better, a little bit bigger lead.” “We just came out ready to execute our game plan,” Wysocky said. “We knew that we just had to play defense the whole game and not let up.” Michigan Tech led 39-28 at halftime and was able to extend its lead in the second half as the Timberwolves’ field-goal percentage dipped to 29 percent. “I think we stuck with them for the most part,” Glowacki said. “They hit their shots and we didn’t.” |