The SVSU women’s basketball team has dropped to 0-8 on the season after losing two more road contests. The Lady Cardinals traveled to the Upper Peninsula to play Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan.
The team began the road trip on Thursday, Nov. 30. The No. 18 ranked Huskies beat the Cards 59-37.
SVSU struggled from the field, making just 11 shots and shooting 21 percent from the floor. The opening 10 minutes of the game saw Tech jump to a 10-4 lead, as the Cardinals shot 1-9 in the first quarter.
The Huskies led by nine entering halftime as they outscored SVSU 15-12 in the second quarter. Shooting woes continued in the third, as SVSU made just one of 11 shots, scoring seven points in the quarter to Michigan Tech’s 19.
Redshirt freshman guard Laurel Jacqmain had a team-high 12 points in 29 minutes. She coupled that with four rebounds.
Junior guard Hannah Settingsgaard had three steals and three rebounds to go with her two blocks.
Jacqmain has reached double digits in five appearances this season and has played strong minutes, which garnered praise from head coach Jamie Pewinski.
“Laurel has done a good job of staying aggressive on the offensive end,” Pewinski said. “She’s the most natural scorer we have and one of the best shooters we have. Her ability to stretch the defense helps keep the paint a little more open for our posts or for the guards to drive. As she gets more acclimated to the speed and strength of the college game, she’ll only improve all of her numbers.”
The team visited Northern Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 2, in a losing effort, as the Wildcats won 60-52.
SVSU shot 21-64 from the field compared to 13-34 by NMU. The Wildcats attempted 37 free throws compared to SVSU’s 14. The Wildcats also outrebounded the Cards 47-24. SVSU committed 30 fouls to NMU’s 20.
For the second game in a row, SVSU started slow, scoring five points on 2-12 shooting in the opening quarter to Northern’s 10 on 2-8 shooting. The team was dominated on the boards, as the Wildcats grabbed 11 rebounds to the Cardinals’ two.
Settingsgaard and the Cards turned things around with an 18-point second quarter with Settingsgaard scoring eight of the 18.
NMU gained a strong lead in the third quarter, going 9-9 from the free throw line en route to outscoring SVSU 17-12.
The fourth quarter saw the deficit jump to 17 points before the Cardinals were able to cut the lead to eight points, even getting as close as six points with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
Settingsgaard led the team with 14 points on 6-11 shooting. She also grabbed four rebounds to pair with four steals.
Jacqmain scored in double digits for the fourth time in five games. Her 11 points came in 31 minutes. She also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Francesca Coury tallied a career-high four steals off of the bench. Freshman forward Kaitlyn Geers tied a career-high with seven points on the second unit.
Lake Superior State University comes to O’Neill Arena on Thursday, Dec. 7, for a 6 p.m. tip-off. The team hosts Ferris State University on Saturday, Dec. 9, for a 4 p.m start.
