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Strong Second Half Sends SVSU to Eighth Straight Victory

Anna Hall had 15 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal in the victory at Northern Michigan...
Anna Hall had 15 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal in the victory at Northern Michigan...

The Basics

Score: Saginaw Valley 70, Northern Michigan 54
Records: SVSU (12-4, 9-2 GLIAC) | NMU (6-11, 5-6 GLIAC)
Location: Berry Events Center - Marquette, Mich.

MARQUETTE, Mich. - The SVSU women's basketball team headed north for its annual trip to the Upper Peninsula and faced Northern Michigan University on Thursday (Jan. 21) evening in GLIAC North Division action. After a first quarter tie and closely-contested opening half overall, the Lady Cardinals carried a 34-33 edge into the halftime break and outscored the Wildcats by a count of 36-21 in the final 20 minutes of play to close-out for a 16-point victory, 70-54.

The victory made it eight straight for Saginaw Valley, which maintains its hold on sole possession of first place in the GLIAC North Division with a 9-2 league record. The eight wins in a row continue to be the most since the 1998-99 season (10).

After the first of four Katelyn Carriere triples to open the game's scoring at the 9:46 mark, Northern Michigan worked back and took the lead two minutes later with the score 4-3. It would maintain that lead until the 2:20 spot, when SVSU trailed 15-12 and rattled-off six straight points to take an 18-15 edge after buckets from Danielle Carriere, Emily Wendling and two Wendling free throws. Nothern made good on a triple with 38 seconds remaining in the first frame, which put the score at 18-18 to end the first quarter.

Anna Hall and Katelyn Carriere made good on buckets to push the lead to 22-18 to open the second quarter three minutes in. 

After the Wildcats worked back to knot the score at 22-22 with six minutes left in the half, Katelyn Carriere answered that with another three-pointer to give the visitors a 25-22 advantage in the contest. 

NMU gained a lead at 28-27 with 2:54 showing on the clock and led by a 33-31 score at the 1:36 marker. 

Wendling had an answer for that, however, as she converted on a three-point play with 36 seconds to go in the half to make the score 34-31 in SVSU's favor heading into halftime.

Saginaw Valley gained some separation after outscoring Northern Michigan by a 20-15 count in the third quarter. The Cardinal lead reached double-digits at the 5:20 marker after a Wendling layup made the score 50-39.

The Wildcats would cut the lead a bit from there, eventually trimming the score to 54-48 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Cards were equally as impressive in the fourth and final quarter, posting a 16-6 point differential in the frame. The spread reached 20 points with 3:53 showing on the clock after Hall added a three-point play to make the score 70-50. NMU added another pair of buckets, but Saginaw Valley was too much and closed-out for the 70-54 win.

Inside the Boxscore

  • SVSU shot 40.6% (26-of-64) from the floor while the Wildcats were 40.0% (20-of-50)
  • Wendling had game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds. It marks her ninth 20-plus point performance of the 2015-16 season. She added an assist, a steal and a block in the contest as well. 
  • Katelyn Carriere added 16 points in the contest, striking on 4-of-6 tries from beyond the arc, adding a pair of rebounds and assists. 
  • Anna Hall added 15 points in the victory, just two points shy of her career-high. She chipped-in with four assists, two rebounds and a steal as well.
  • Alex Green matched Hall's game-high four assists.
  • Hannah Settingsgaard grabbed a career-high six rebounds and two blocks in the contest for SV.
  • SVSU stayed hot from the free throw line, hitting on 13-of-14 tries. The team now sits at 78.7% overall for the season from the charity stripe. Their 78.0% mark coming into the game ranked second in the GLIAC and fifth nationally.
  • The Lady Cardinals committed just 13 turnovers while forcing 19 Wildcat turnovers. SVSU won the battle on the glass as well, grabbing 35 rebounds compared to NMU's 33. 
  • SVSU owned the paint as well, outscoring Northern 32-20 from inside.
  • Both teams were impressive from the foul line, with the Wildcats hitting on all 11 tries and SVSU making 13-of-14 attempts.

Meijer "Player of the Game"

Wendling was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after posting her game-high of 22 points and grabbing a game-best eight rebounds.  

From Head Coach Jamie Pewinski...

"Another great defensive effort and an all-around great second half. I thought we played with a lot more energy after halftime and we were able to get out in transition. We kept our turnovers down and were able to out-rebound them for the game, which was a major key to getting the win!"

Up Next for Saginaw Valley

The Lady Cardinals continue on to face the Michigan Tech University Huskies on Saturday (Jan. 23) in GLIAC North Division action. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. in Tech's SDC Gymnasium. It should be an exciting matchup between the top two teams in the North Division, as the Huskies are coming off an 83-53 home victory over the Hillsdale College Chargers on Thursday evening. 

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