Women's Basketball Defeats Tiffin 63-54

TIFFIN, OHIO – The Northwood University women's basketball team picked up a 63-54 road win over Tiffin Thursday night (January 7).

Northwood improves to 8-5 overall, 4-3 in the GLIAC. Tiffin falls to 2-10 overall, 0-7 in the GLIAC.

The win was the first for Northwood at Tiffin since the 2008-09 season, when NU won by nearly the identical score to tonight's game (62-54).

Tiffin led 3-0 early on the game, but that would prove to be the Dragon's biggest advantage of the contest. The Timberwolves opened up a lead as big as eight in the first quarter before taking a 15-12 lead after one. Both teams shot a similar percentage in the quarter (NU – 37.5, TU – 36.4), but Northwood committed seven fewer turnovers (10-3).

NU got their lead up to nine in the second quarter, but Tiffin continued to stay close to Northwood. An Emily Kutch (Freeport, Mich./Lakewood) 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Timberwolves a 37-30 lead at the break. Both teams shot it much better in the second quarter – NU ended up at 50.0 percent (8-16) while TU finished at 60.0 percent (6-10).

The Timberwolves got the lead to 11 points on two separate occasions in the third quarter before settling for a 48-39 lead heading to the fourth. The offenses struggled in the third – Northwood went 4-12 from the floor (33.3 percent) while Tiffin finished at 3-12 (25.0 percent).

Tiffin came out strong in the fourth, scoring nine of the first 11 points to cut the NU lead down to 50-48 with 5:51 remaining in the game. The NU lead was 53-51 with just over three minutes to go when Northwood University closed the game out. The Timberwolves scored 12 of the final 15 points down the stretch to earn the win.

For the game, Northwood shot 42.6 percent from the floor (23-54). NU went 3-13 from 3-point range (23.1 percent) and 14-21 from the foul line (66.7 percent). Tiffin ended up at 39.5 percent (17-43) overall, 44.4 percent from 3-point range (8-18) and 66.7 percent from the foul line (12-18). The Dragons out-rebounded Northwood 40-22, but the Timberwolves finished with an 11-1 edge in second chance points. Northwood also committed 15 fewer turnovers in the game (25-10), which gave them a 28-15 advantage in points off turnovers.

Jordyn Nurenberg (St. Johns, Mich.) led the way for the Timberwolves once again, finishing with 22 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Lauren Robak (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes) finished with 11 points.

Northwood will travel to Ohio Dominican Saturday (January 9). Game time is set for 1 p.m.