Women's Basketball Advances To G-MAC Tournament Championship With 84-66 Win Over Walsh

OVERVIEW – WALSH

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 84, Walsh Cavaliers 66

RECORDS: Northwood 25-5, Walsh 17-13

LOCATION: Riepma Arena – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Top seeded Northwood women's basketball advances to the G-MAC Tournament Championship game with an 84-66 win over No. 4 Walsh Friday (March 6).

GAME STORY

• The key to the game was Northwood's start, as the Timberwolves opened the game on an 11-2 run at the 7:40 mark.
• NU went on to lead 26-6 before ending the first up 29-10.
• Walsh cut the lead down to 15 early in the second, but that was as close as the Cavaliers got the remainder of the half.
• Northwood's 57-28 lead at halftime matched their biggest advantage of the opening 20 minutes.
• The Timberwolves pushed their lead to 63-31 with 8:33 remaining in the third when the Cavaliers began to fight back. Walsh chipped away at the lead the remainder of the quarter to make the score 72-50 heading to the fourth.
• WU's run eventually reached 32-11 midway through the fourth quarter, putting the Cavs within 11 at 74-63.
• Northwood finished the game strong, outscoring Walsh 12-3 the rest of the way to finish off the 18 point victory.

GAME STATS

• FG PERCENTAGE: Walsh .371 (26-70), Northwood .431 (28-65)
• 3-PT PERCENTAGE: Walsh .333 (12-36), Northwood .272 (6-22)
• FREE THROW PERCENTAGE: Walsh .400 (2-5), Northwood .815 (22-27)
• REBOUNDS: Walsh 30 (Nine offensive), Northwood 47 (15 offensive)
• ASSISTS/TURNOVERS: Walsh 15/19, Northwood 18/20

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Lea Holmes: 30 points (career-high), five rebounds, three steals, two blocks, 9-14 from the floor, 11-11 from the foul line
• Maeve St. John: 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four steals
• Karie Keefer: 11 points, eight rebounds, 4-4 from the floor
• Lexie Bowers: 11 points
• Grace Isenhath: 10 points

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• With her two blocked shots, Holmes now has 126 blocks for her two-year career. That breaks the old school record of 124 set by Kaitlin Susan (2011-15).
• The Timberwolves' 25th win extended the program record for victories in a season. The 2008-09 team won 21 games for the old record.
• Northwood also extends school record for longest winning streak with their 15th straight win today. The old record was set in 1990-91 (10).
• This is the first time in program history Northwood has advanced to a conference tournament championship game.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will host No. 2 seed Malone in the championship game Saturday (March 7). Game time is set for 3 p.m.