ST. PAUL, Minn. – Saturday was a day of celebration for University of Northwestern Women's Basketball in just about every way imaginable. The Eagles celebrated three seniors:
Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony),
Bethany Lunke (Lakeville, Minn./United Christian Academy) and
Annika Dykstra (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), as well as two juniors who are graduating this spring:
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) and
Rylie Hirschey (Pine River, Minn./Pine River Backus). UNW also celebrated its 50
th year of women's basketball on campus, recognizing alumni and former coaches throughout the game. To cap it all off, Northwestern was able to overcome a hot-shooting first half by Crown to pull away for a 75-63 victory in its final regular season game of the season.
Dykstra got things started with a three-pointer that electrified the home crowd. Schuck made a layup on the following possession to establish an early, 5-0 lead, then did the same shortly after to make it 7-2, Eagles.
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) checked in and nailed a three to go up 10-4 before Crown went on an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the day.
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) put UNW back in front with a three-pointer, and Sondrol made a layup to extend the lead to 15-12. The Polars again responded with some impressive outside shooting until
Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) laid one in to trim the deficit to 18-17. The Polars would score once more to lead 20-17 after one.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) scored UNW's first three points of the second quarter to keep the Eagles close at 22-20, then Northwestern found its stride. Back-to-back threes from
Ella Falk (Jamestown, N.D./Jamestown) and Hirschey, plus a Hagen jumper after collecting an offensive rebound made it 30-24, Eagles. Just over a minute later, Falk threw a long pass and hit Hirschey in stride for a layup to stretch the lead to 33-26, then Schuck made consecutive layups to push it to nine at 37-28. An
Andrea Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) three and a Sondrol layup closed out the half for UNW and gave it a 42-35 advantage at the break.
Schuck kicked of the second half with a three-pointer to give Northwestern its first double digit lead. Hagen nailed a jumper to keep the lead at 10, then Crown pulled within five before Schuck lined up another one from deep and knocked it down. Hagen sunk a triple of her own with 5:04 left, then Schuck did the same two minutes later, giving her a trifecta of three-pointers in the quarter and putting UNW ahead, 56-47. Falk connected on a mid-range jump shot to stretch the lead to 11 at 60-49, and Hirschey knocked down a trey in the closing seconds of the period to make it 65-53, Northwestern, after three.
The Eagles got threes from Landvik and Pocernich, plus two free throws from Terry and a layup from Sondrol to open the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run (13-0 dating back to the third quarter) and open up a 75-53 lead, and the blitz was on. When the final buzzer sounded, Northwestern had come away with a 75-63 Senior Day win to finish the regular season 16-9 overall and 9-5 in the UMAC.
The Eagles continued their stretch of strong outside shooting, connecting on 41.9% of their threes on Saturday. They also blocked six Polar shots and won the rebounding battle, 38-30. Schuck paced UNW offensively with 17 points, nine of which came in her explosive third quarter. Hagen finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Sondrol tallied nine points, six boards and two blocks. Hirschey also scored nine points, adding five rebounds. Falk contributed five rebounds and four assists, while Grosz finished with four boards and three dimes.
The win locked up the number three seed in next week's UMAC Women's Basketball Tournament for
Aaron Kahl's squad. They will travel to Minnesota Morris Wednesday for a rematch of Friday night's tight contest in the semifinal round of the tournament. Stay tuned to unweagles.com and follow @unweagles and @unwwbb on social media for more updates on start time.
