BOX SCORE

ST. PAUL, Minn. - No. 17 Michigan Tech held Southwest Minnesota State to just 30.4 percent shooting in earning a 74-53 victory on Friday afternoon during the Concordia University, Radisson Thanksgiving Classic in St. Paul.

Michigan Tech, which shot 55.1 percent in the game and connected on nine 3-pointers, improves to 3-0 on the season, while SMSU falls to 1-2. SMSU was just 6 of 24 shooting in the second half as MTU opened a close four-point game early in the second half by outscoring the Mustangs 37-22 in the final half.

MTU is now 2-0 versus NSIC teams this season after earning a 67-46 victory over Minnesota Duluth last weekend.

Freshman Ellen Degler, playing in her first game for SMSU after spending the fall with the Mustang volleyball team, scored a team-high 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting, while also grabbing six rebounds. Senior Tori Fink added 11 points and six rebounds to round out SMSU's double figure scorers.

SMSU finished the game connecting on just 14 of 46 shot attempts, with two 3-pointers on 11 attempts. The Mustangs had just three assists in the contest.

The Huskies started the game strong jumping out to a 25-9 led just nine minutes and 30 seconds into the game. It remained a double-digit deficit for SMSU for much of the half until a late run cut the MTU lead to just six points at halftime. Trailing 30-17 with seven minutes left in the half, SMSU stepped up the defense and allowed just one field goal for the remainder of the half and out scored the Huskies 14-7 to trail just 37-31 at halftime. Degler led SMSU with nine first half points, including seven of the team's final nine points.

SMSU pulled to within 37-33 early in the second half following a field goal by Laura Kramer with 18:50 on the clock, but it was all MTU after that, as the Hukies went on a 10-2 run in the next two minutes and never looked back as the lead never dropped below double digits.

MTU held a 36-25 rebound advantage in the game.

SMSU will continue play in the classic tomorrow taking on Northern Michigan on Saturday at 1 p.m.