HOUGHTON – As two rivals matched strength against strength, the No. 15 Michigan Tech University women may not have had the upper hand, but they had an upper finger or two when it counted, resulting in a 57-49 Husky victory.

“We knew that game was going to be about toughness and grit and energy and passion and now we have to refocus and get back on the road, but we’re not by any means satisfied. We’re fortunate to get through that one and on to the next one,” MTU coach Kim Cameron said.

Tech, now 18-1 overall and 14-1 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, surged ahead with an 8-0 run to start the second half. NMU countered and briefly took the lead, only for Tech to get enough key plays down the stretch to stay in front for good.

“They finished their shots when they had them. We had the ball where we wanted to early in the second half. They made a couple defensive plays where we thought we were going to be able to score the basketball. That was a big difference, the first four minutes of the second half, other than that, it was pretty even, I thought,” NMU coach Troy Mattson said.

A grinding first half ended with NMU up 20-19. Cameron said the intent to start the second half was to spread NMU’s defense out and work some opportunities with Danielle Blake in the high post.

Morgan Anderson popped in four of her 13 second-half points in the run, which also included a Kelli Guy jumper and two Brenna Heise free throws. On the other end, NMU had four turnovers and two misses during the span.

NMU briefly took the lead back on an Alyssa Colla jumper with 13:23 to play, but Tech outscored NMU 13-3 over the next seven-plus minutes, getting key treys from Anderson, Guy and Jillian Ritchie.

Over the same stretch, NMU was 1 for 7 with a turnover.

“We missed four layups in the first half and we need to get layups against them. We got four layups in the first half and we missed them, and we probably missed three more in the second half. That’s a big swing. You try to work for layups and you have to finish them, and we didn’t do a very good job on that,” Mattson said.

Colla, limited by early foul trouble to 28 minutes, heated up late, scoring eight points in the last 1:36, but the closest NMU came down the stretch was five.

“I thought it was an intense battle the entire game. I thought every possession was earned on both ends,” Cameron said. “We worked and earned every basket that we got, and I thought they did as well.”

In a game so tight, a ‘desire stat’ like offensive rebounds can be telling. Tech had 12.

“That was one of the keys to our entire second half. That was one of our keys going into this game, to be able to give ourselves second-chance opportunities. I thought we did that, I thought we did it at key times during the game,” Cameron said.

Anderson’s game total of 16 points led all scorers, while Heise had 12 and Blake 10.

For NMU (12-7, 10-5 GLIAC), Colla finished with 15, while Nea Makela and Abbey DeBruin had 11 apiece.

“I thought Nea Makela had a great game. She’s been struggling a little bit and I thought she guarded Dani Blake pretty well. Dani Blake’s an All-American and she held Dani to 10 and Nea got 11. I thought that was the big plus of the game of for me to see that happen,” Mattson said.

Tech plays five of its last seven GLIAC games on the road, starting with Ferris State on Thursday.

“It’s great, but it’s in the past now and every game is important. We have to focus on the game right now and not the past,” Anderson said.

NMU is at Grand Valley State Thursday. The rematch in Marquette is Feb. 26.

“I think I learned a lot from this game, watching what Tech was going to try to do against us when we’re defending the way we defended,” Mattson said.