Northern Michigan Unable to Slow Down AU Women’s Basketball; Eagles Win GLIAC South Title
February 20, 2006

By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information

Complete Box Score

The old proverb goes, “Slow and steady wins the race.” On Monday night (Feb. 20), “slow and steady” kept the Northern Michigan women’s basketball team in the game for 32 minutes against heavily-favored Ashland. In the end, though, an 11-0 AU run proved to be the Wildcats undoing and the Eagles won their third straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) South Division title with a 73-62 Senior Night victory.

Ashland, now 11-1 at home this season, is 18-9 overall and 12-4 in GLIAC play. Northern Michigan falls to 6-18 overall and 2-15 in conference competition.

From the opening tip, Northern Michigan coach Troy Mattson’s strategy was obvious. The visitors would use every second of the 30-second shot clock on every possession in an effort to limit Ashland’s scoring opportunities. For much of the contest, NMU was able to execute its game plan effectively.

The Eagles built a 24-12 lead with 9:11 to go in the first half. Northern Michigan did not speed up the pace at all, though. They responded with a 15-4 run that included a trio of three-point field goals. AU’s lead was just 28-27 5:14 before the intermission.

A Catherine Portyrata layup with 18 seconds to go in the first half gave AU a 39-33 lead at the break. Ashland could not shake the Wildcats despite shooting 56.7 percent from the field and outrebounding the visitors, 22-5. NMU stayed in the game by shooting 50 percent from the field and making five three-pointers.

Northern Michigan came out of the locker room with a 14-5 surge. Maria Kasza’s layup at the 13:43 mark gave NMU its first lead of the game, 47-45.

Ashland scored the next 10 points over a 3:38 span, all of the points coming in the paint. After a Tera Opperman three-pointer trimmed AU’s lead to 58-52 with 8:12 showing on the clock, the home team ran off the next 11 points. Portyrata scored five of her game-high 21 markers during the decisive surge.

With the Eagles leading by 17 points and less than five minutes showing on the game clock, AU coach Sue Ramsey was able to put her three seniors—DeAndria Bethune, Maria Dehne and Nicole Wright—on the floor together in their last regular season game at Kates Gymnasium.

Ashland ended the game with a 55.6 percent mark on its field goal attempts. AU also took the rebounding battle, 39-20. The Eagles held a 42-20 edge in points in the paint and a 17-7 advantage in second-chance points.

On Senior Night, a pair of juniors carried much of Ashland’s scoring load. Portyrata’s 21 points matched a career high. She also scored 21 in AU’s meeting with Northern Michigan a year ago. She added nine rebounds, six of the offensive variety, in her 28 minutes of work.

Amber Rall, the GLIAC’s leading scorer at 18.1 ppg., nearly hit her average, tossing in 18 markers and dishing out three assists. Bethune added 11 points. Lisa Graue contributed six points, a game-high 11 rebounds and four helpers. Betsy Morrison had a nice all-around performance, finishing with five points, seven boards and a game-high five assists.

Opperman led NMU with 17 points before fouling out. Maria Kasza had 16 markers. Both Opperman and Kasza connected on four three-pointers. Allison Carroll added 14 points.

The Eagles will close their regular season slate on Saturday (Feb. 25) at Findlay (12-14, 5-11 GLIAC). Tip-off at Croy Gymnasium will be at 1 p.m. AU will be looking for its first win at Findlay in nine seasons.

Ashland will then open GLIAC Tournament play a week from Tuesday (Feb. 28) at home. The opponent is yet to be determined, but it is now known that the AU women’s contest will be the first game of a doubleheader at Kates Gymnasium that evening. The AU men’s basketball team will host a GLIAC Tournament contest in the nightcap.