Lake County Sentinel
Wildcats bite Storm 68-54
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(PAINESVILLE, OH) - Not even the season’s first winter STORM could keep the Lake Erie College women from taking on the Northern Michigan Wildcats at The Osborne Center in Painesville on Saturday. The game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. was pushed back until 5:00 p.m., because the Northern Michigan bus did not arrive in Painesville until 11:00 a.m. Unfortunately the game did not go the way of the Storm as they fell 68-54 to the Wildcats.
After Northern Michigan Coach Troy Mattson benched his entire starting lineup three minutes into the game the Wildcats outplayed the Storm and held an 18-16 lead after the first quarter.
Lake Erie shot out to a hot start in the second quarter scoring the first six points and building their lead to 24-18. The Wildcats bit back as they outscored the Storm the rest of the quarter 16-7 to take a 34-31 lead into the locker room.
Lake Erie Junior Kayla Gabor and Northern Michigan Bre Gaspervich were the leading scorers in the first half with nine points each. A key to the Wildcats advantage at the break was that they outrebounded the Storm 18-11 in the first 20 minutes.
Things got away from the Storm early in the third quarter as the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run in the first 3:49 to take a 43-33 lead. By the end of the period Northern Michigan had built their lead to 50-38.
The fourth quarter was very much like the third as Lake Erie could gain no momentum and cut into the deficit, once again the Wildcats outscored the Storm in the quarter 18-16 to take the contest 68-54.
Northern Michigan’s Darby Youngstrom was the leading scorer in the game as she scored 18. Gabor finished with 15 in the losing effort for the Storm. The Wildcats had a huge advantage on the boards, outrebounding the Storm 35-21.
The Storm will be in action next on Thursday, when they travel to Lake Superior State to take on the Lakers at 5:30 p.m.
POSTED 12/11/2016 19:02
Photo by Tommy Shirer
