GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - It was Senior Day on Saturday for the women's basketball team as they hosted Northern Michigan. The Wildcats played the role of spoiler with a 54-43 win over the Panthers.
Loni Sales,
Toni Grace, and
Kenzie Wilkinson were honored prior to the contest. Sales suited up for the game despite a season-ending injury. She did start and the Panthers won the tip and she was subbed out in a nice moment. Grace finished with five points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes as the Wildcats played tight defense on her. It snapped a 10-game scoring streak in double figures for Grace. Wilkinson played 31 minutes and finished with eight points, four rebounds, four steals, and two assists. She set a season-high in steals and minutes played today.
The Wildcats led for 31:29 while DU had the lead for 6:44. There were 12 lead changes and three ties in the game. Davenport led 15-13 after the first quarter. DU shot 46.2 percent and was 3-of-5 from the arc in the first 10 minutes. Northern Michigan started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to gain a 20-15 lead at the 8:11 mark. The held that lead for the rest of the quarter but the Panthers trimmed it to 28-27 at halftime as
Lillee Gustafson had a three-point play to end the quarter.
The third quarter was very close as both teams were within one possession until the final points of the quarter as Makaylee Kuhn hit a floating jump shot in the paint for a 41-37 lead for the Wildcats entering the fourth quarter. NMU shot 38.5 percent and DU shot 33.3 percent in the quarter.
Neither team scored until the 7:10 mark of the fourth when NMU scored six straight points to lead 47-37 with 4:39 left to go. DU's first fourth quarter points came at 3:25 on a Ajay Simmons triple. The scoring draught was too much to overcome as DU shot 15.4 percent in the final quarter compared to 40 percent for the Wildcats.
Kuhn led the Wildcats with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and also had seven rebounds and four steals. Emily Mueller added 10 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. Elena Alaix scored 11 points off the bench as the Wildcats bench outscored the Panther bench by a 25-15 margin. Gustafson for DU had 12 points and six rebounds going 5-of-8 from the floor.
Jaci Walker added seven points and three rebounds in 21 minutes.
