Ferris State women’s basketball returns to Jim Wink Arena to host GLIAC rivals the Northern Michigan Wildcats and the Michigan Tech Huskies. Following a successful road trip that saw the Bulldogs defeat the Wisconsin Parkside Rangers and the Purdue Northwest Pride.
The Bulldogs (13-4, 7-1 in GLIAC), who have won eight out of their last 10 matches, are set to face off against two conference opponents, first on Thursday against the Wildcats (11-5, 5-3 in GLIAC) who started the season 8-0. Since then, the Wildcats have gone 4-4 in their last eight games.
The Bulldogs will have to play without the GLIAC’s leading scorer, senior guard Kadyn Blanchard, who has missed the past four games with an undisclosed injury. In her absence, junior guard Mia Riley has stepped up in a big way, averaging 16.5 points per game and six rebounds per game in those previous four games.
Ferris’ key to winning this matchup will be to stifle the Wildcats’ leading scorer, junior guard Jacy Weisbrod. With 14.3 points per game, she sits fourth in the GLIAC. However, in her last three games, she has hit a rough patch and has averaged seven points per game, which the Bulldogs will look to take advantage of.
Junior forward Mya Hiram knows the Wildcats will be a tough matchup but plans to give Northern Michigan a hard time no matter what.
“I think we match up well against Northern Michigan, this game will be a battle of the boards, but if we can find our block outs and pursue the ball then we’ll be fine,” Hiram said. “I think our transition game will give them a hard time, they have some great shooters on their team so we need to shut them down early. They are a very gritty team but so are we and I am confident in our team and that we will be able to handle anything thrown our way.”
On Saturday, the Bulldogs will look to take down the Michigan Tech Huskies (7-9, 4-4 in GLIAC), who have historically had the Bulldogs number, holding onto a 53-19 all-time record. Yet, as of recently, the Bulldogs have taken advantage of the Huskies’ recent downturn in success, defeating Michigan Tech in their last two matchups. Ferris will have their hands full again with a top scorer in the GLIAC, this time with the Huskies senior guard Isabella Lenz, who sits in third place in the GLIAC scoring leaders, averaging 14.9 points per game.
Junior guard Emma Schierbeek is happy with this season and believes that the team needs to play more disciplined to grow more this season.
“I am happy with how our season has gone so far,” Schierbeek said. “I think we have all grown so much and have been learning from each other and making each of us better, one thing I think we need to work on as a team is playing more disciplined all around, if we can be disciplined on defense and offense it will take us far in the future.”
The Bulldogs’ offense sits in second place in the conference, averaging 80.1 points per game on 47.1% and 35.2% shooting splits.
Riley is proud of how the team has grown recently, and that the team can prove it by winning these next two games.
“We have grown a lot as a team these past few weeks,” Riley said. “I am excited to be able to show it against these two teams in Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech, these are two huge statement games for us.”
The Bulldogs take on the Wildcats on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m., then the Huskies come to town on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m.