Women's Basketball Downs St. Joseph's 83-67 To Open Season

MIDLAND, MICH. – The Northwood University women's basketball team opened their 2014-15 season with an 83-67 win over Saint Joseph's Friday night.

The game was a part of the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover, hosted by Northwood. It was the season-opener for both teams.

Northwood scored the first two points of the game and would lead the rest of the way. The Timberwolves jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, but did not go up by more than that until the 6:58 mark o of the opening half (26-19). The Timberwolves then finished the half strong, going on a 17-3 run over the final 6:32 to open up a 43-24 lead at the break. NU shot 45.7 percent from the floor in the half (16-35) while holding the Pumas to a 29.2 percent mark (7-24). Northwood also committed just four turnovers against the St. Joe's pressure defense in the opening 20 minutes.

Both teams shot the ball well in the second half – St. Joseph's finished at 60.0 percent (15-25) while Northwood ended up at 54.2 (13-24). The story of the second half was the play of two players – Kalea Parks for St. Joseph's and Gabrielle Rivette (Fenton, Mich.). Parks had 21 points after the break, while Rivette had 19. Rivette went 6-7 from the floor and 6-6 from the foul line in the final 20 minutes. Northwood opened up a 24 point lead early in the second half, but St. Joseph's hung around. The Pumas cut the Timberwolves' lead down to 10 at 62-52 with 9:48 remaining.  But Northwood bounced back with a run of their own, putting up a 15-6 run to get the lead back up to 19 at 77-58. St. Joseph's got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

For the game, Northwood finished at 49.2 percent (29-59) overall from the floor. St. Joseph's finished at 44.9 percent (22-49). The Timberwolves had a great night at the foul line, finishing up at 91.7 percent (22-24).

Rivette finished with 26 points for the game, matching her career-high. Jordyn Nurenberg (Saint Johns, Mich.)  came off the bench to score 18 points and grab eight rebounds. Lauren Robak (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes) scored 15 points, while Sarah Susan (Grand Rapids, Mich./Byron Center) ended up with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

In the other game played tonight at the tournament, ninth-ranked Lewis defeated Saginaw Valley State 85-60

Northwood will host Lewis Saturday (November 15). Game time is set for 7 p.m. SVSU and St. Joseph's will play each other at 5 p.m.