Tech Advances to Regional Title Game with 68-57 Win over Findlay

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Survive and advance. That's exactly what the No. 3-ranked Michigan Tech women's basketball team did today with a 68-57 victory over Findlay in the NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal. The Huskies, who have tied the school record for wins at 30, are into the sweet 16 for the second straight year and will face Drury Tuesday (Mar. 16) night for the regional title.

The hosts seemed to be in control with a 15-point margin midway through the second half, but the scrappy Oilers had other ideas. UF hung around and worked back into an eight-point deficit on Maggie Gomper's triple with 5:45 to go. Tara Ferris answered with a layup after head coach John Barnes called timeout. The Oilers came back with eight straight points including two easy fast-break layups from Kayla Brown to pull within 57-55 with 2:36 showing.

Lindsey Lindstrom stopped the bleeding with a huge, three-point play on a pass from Sarah Stream on the next possession. The Huskies' defense then went to work, holding the Oilers to five missed shots and two turnovers over the next two minutes. Tech made eight straight free throws during the span to ice the win.

"Every game in the NCAA Tournament is tough," said Barnes, who improved to 5-4 in NCAA Tournament games. "We missed some shots, and really relied on our defense down the stretch.

"We made a couple corrections towards the end of the game defensively, then made our free throws."

Tech went 15-of-15 at the charity stripe for the game, improving their nation-leading percentage to 83.1 on the season.

Stream and Katie Wysocky posted matching game highs of 17 points. Stream added four steals and three assists while Wysocky recorded a game-high nine rebounds.

Lindstrom scored six in the game including what stood up to be the game-winning points on the three-point play.

Findlay (22-9) received a team-high 15 points from Laura Bardall and 13 more from Ashley Andrews, who helped her team outscore Tech 27-16 in bench points.

UF edged the Black and Gold in field goal percentage (41 to 40), but Tech had three more rebounds and two fewer turnovers.

Michigan Tech (30-2) will play in its sixth regional championship game on Tuesday and face Drury for the first time in school history. The Huskies are 2-3 in regional title tilts.

Notes: A crowd of 2,403 filled the SDC Gym, marking the fifth-largest in school history and the third straight game a top-10 crowd watched the Huskies … Katie Zimmerman broke the record for games played at Michigan Tech with her 125th.