HOUGHTON – There may not be enough superlatives to describe how dominant Michigan Tech was in a 80-38 win over Northern Michigan University, so a simple phrase can sum it up: conference champions.

The Huskies (19-7, 17-5) clinched a share of the GLIAC North Division women’s regular season title with Saginaw Valley State University after throttling NMU (13-15, 12-10) in a game that was over by halftime.

“I can’t tell you how much this moment meant to this team and this program,” Michigan Tech head coach Kim Cameron said. “It’s really hard to do. It may not seem that way all the time, but knowing what we’ve been through this entire year and knowing it took this last win to be able to cut down the net was really special for us.”

The Huskies’ 14th regular-season conference title is the fourth in six seasons for Cameron.

“Michigan Tech has four really good senior players,” NMU head coach Troy Mattson said. “They weren’t going to let anyone come in here and disrupt them today. They made all kinds of shots and all kinds of plays. We didn’t compete with them hard enough.”

The four seniors for Tech – Danielle Blake, Kylie Moxley, Perttu and Gardner – combined to shoot 20 of 27 from the field. Blake scored 23 points and Moxley 11, while the other two were 3 for 3. Overall, the Huskies shot 32 of 53 from the field, including 19 of 25 in the first half to take a 48-18 lead.

After NMU’s guards consistently found seams in Tech’s defense in the Wildcats’ 71-69 win on Feb. 1, the Huskies made defensive adjustments to limit the dribble penetration of NMU. The most obvious switch was putting the 6-foot Blake on NMU’s leading scorer, junior guard Bre Gaspervich (12 points per game).

“Gaspervich is kind of their heartbeat. When she plays good, her entire team plays good,” Cameron said. “We had to take her out of the game early. We knew that was the only way we could set the tone.”

The 5-foot-5 Gaspervich struggled with the length and lateral quickness of Blake and missed all nine of her shot attempts in the first quarter. Gaspervich finished with three points on 1 of 12 shooting before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury.

Trailing 6-4 with 7:31 left in the first quarter, the Huskies held NMU scoreless over the next 8:43 in a 14-0 run to take an 18-6 lead.

In addition to Gaspervich, senior Kendall Martenet and freshman Tess Weatherly each suffered injuries.

“I came in here hoping to get out of here healthy, to tell you the truth,” Mattson said. “All of a sudden we have three girls alongside Chloe (Tompkins) hurt. I’m not too happy about that, but I think they’re just minor, nagging injuries.”

Up next, NMU and Tech will take part in the GLIAC tournament. NMU is the No. 8 seed and travels to face No. 1 Ashland (27-1, 21-1 GLIAC) of the South Division at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.