Women's Basketball Falls on the Road at Miami University (Ohio) 64-49

OVERVIEW – Miami University (Ohio)

SCORE:  Northwood Timberwolves 49, Miami University RedHawks 64

RECORDS: Northwood (4-3, 2-1 GLIAC) Miami University (3-6, 0-0 MAC)

LOCATION: Millet Hall – Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

RECAP: Northwood's cold fourth quarter the difference as Miami University outlasts the Timberwolves en route to a 64-49 home victory.

FIRST QUARTER

• Northwood scored the first basket of the game but it was Miami who scored the next two field goals, followed by a Northwood bucket making the score 5-4. This trend would continue throughout the first quarter, as neither team led by more than three points in the first frame.
• In the final minute of the first quarter, both teams hit three pointers take the score from 13-13 to 16-16 after one quarter of play.  
• The score was tied two different times in the opening frame and there were four lead changes in the opening quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

• A strong 6-0 start to the second quarter for Miami would push the RedHawks in front 22-16.
• The Timberwolves battled back by scoring the next five points to pull within one, 22-21, but Miami would respond to close the half on a 7-2 run resulting in a halftime score of 29-23 in favor of the RedHawks.
• Both teams struggled offensively from the floor as Northwood shot 30.3% (10-33) and 25% from beyond the arc (3-12) while Miami shot 31.3% (10-32) and 41.7% from three point land (5-12)

THIRD QUARTER

• Following the halftime break, Miami jumped out to their largest lead yet as they scored eight of the first twelve points in the third quarter to open up a 37-27 advantage over Northwood.  
• After the two teams exchanged a few field goals, Miami lead 41-33, but a 9-2 spurt by the Timberwolves pulled them within one point, 43-42. Jordyn Nurenberg played a crucial role in the run as she scored five of the team's nine points, and had a monster third quarter overall scoring 13 points in the frame while shooting a perfect 5-5 from the floor. 
• A late and-1 basket by the RedHawks extended the lead to four, 46-42 as the third quarter came to a close, but it was the best quarter of the afternoon for NU as they outscored Miami 19-17 in the frame.

FOURTH QUARTER

• A bad combination of cold shooting and turnovers plagued the Timberwolves at the beginning of the fourth quarter which saw the RedHawks jump out to an 8-2 run and open up a 54-45 edge early in the final period.
• Northwood would cut the lead to seven on another basket by Nurenberg with 4:24 to play in the game, but that is as close as the Timberwolves would come as Miami controlled the play down the stretch and finished off a 64-49 victory, which was also the largest lead of the day for Miami.
• For the game, Northwood shot 33.9% from the floor (20-59) and 20% from three (4-20). Miami University shot 42.1% for the contest (24-57) and connected on 41.2% of their three point attempts (7-17).

GAME STATS

• FG PERCENTAGE: Miami University  .421 (24-57), Northwood .339 (20-59)
• 3-PT PERCENTAGE: Miami University  .412 (7-17), Northwood .200 (4-20)
• FREE THROW PERCENTAGE: Miami University  .100 (9-9), Northwood .100 (5-5)
• REBOUNDS: Miami University  40 (5 offensive), Northwood 30 (4 offensive)
• ASSISTS/TURNOVERS: Miami University  10/13, Northwood 14/11

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Jordyn Nurenberg: 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two blocks

GAME NOTES

• This was the first ever meeting between these two schools in women's basketball. Although Miami University is a member of Division I and the MAC, and Northwood is a member of Division II and the GLIAC, the contest was a regular season game for both teams. 
• Both teams were perfect from the foul line as Miami made nine FTs, and Northwood connected on all 5 of their FTs.
• The 21 points by Nurenberg is a season high. Her career high for Northwood came back on February 11, 2016 when she totaled 26 points against Ferris State.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will return home and resume GLIAC play with a game against Walsh on Thursday (December 15). Tip – off is scheduled for 6 PM.