Michigan Tech forward Janie Tormanen attempts a layup during a game against Ferris State Saturday, Jan. 10, at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — With wins last week over the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals and the Lake Superior State Lakers, the Michigan Tech Huskies women’s basketball team had a bounce-back weekend after a tough home stand that saw them go 1-3.

With the two wins, the Huskies improved to 11-5 overall and 5-3 in GLIAC play.

“Obviously, super excited to be able to go on the road and get two wins against pretty good teams,” said Huskies assistant coach Elisa Pietila. “Saginaw and Lake State don’t have great records in conference, but as coach Sam (Clayton) has talked about, every team in the GLIAC is playing pretty well. Any team can beat any team on any given night.

“To be able to go on the road and get two wins against Saginaw and Lake State at their place, it was definitely a really good weekend. I think, overall, one of our best weekends. Executing defensively and being able to get stops, which, in turn, led to our offense. That was really good to see.”

The wins served as a bit of a reset for the Huskies after the difficult home stretch.

“We had a rough weekend at home with Northern (Michigan) and Ferris (State) the weekend before,” Pietila said. “They’re both playing really well. We didn’t play our best that weekend. To be able to reset, to have a good week of practice, our players were able to lock in to respond.

“They’ve had the right mindset all season. They’ve been super committed to, obviously, trying to execute what we’re doing each game, trying to execute the game plan, and to be able to, like I said, go on the road and get two wins, (which) was huge. I think it was good for a lot of our players to build some confidence. A lot of players had good weekends for us.”

One player who has really stepped up for the Huskies recently has been senior forward Janie Tormanen. She has been in double figures in four of the last five games, had three double-doubles over that stretch, and nearly added another against Saginaw Valley.

“Janie is having a really good season,” said Pieitla. “Honestly, as the season goes on, she’s playing better and better. She averaged a double-double over the weekend, and offensively she’s been scoring for us. She’s really efficient from the floor. When we need something, we can kind of get it into her and know she’s going to get a good look for us.

“I think honestly, though, defensively is where she makes the biggest difference. She’s our best communicator. She’s super sharp, executing our ball screen coverage, telling our guards what they need to do, and then she has to guard multiple positions. So sometimes she’s playing in the post. She’s athletic enough and mobile enough where we have her on the perimeter at times guarding maybe a guard or a forward. So, she’s in a tough position at times where she has to guard people differently.”

Another player stepping up in a big way has been junior guard Alyssa Wypych, who is playing some of her best offensive basketball as a Husky. She has scored in double figures in six of her last seven games, and in that seventh, she scored nine to lead the Huskies against the Wildcats.

“Alyssa’s been more aggressive the last few weekends offensively, which is huge for us,” Pietila said. We have four players averaging in double figures points-wise, which is huge. Obviously, (that) makes us a lot tougher to guard, and she does so many things right on both ends of the floor. She cuts when we need a basket. She’s been getting a lot of offensive rebounds for put backs, or getting to the free throw line.

“She did that quite a bit this weekend against Saginaw and Lake State, attacking a little bit from the perimeter, but she’s kind of just a calming presence on both sides of the ball for us. A lot of people look up to her, and she’s always been solid defensively. She has to guard the other team’s best player a lot of times.”

Alongside Wypych in the back court has been senior guard Soraya Timms, who led the Huskies in scoring Saturday against the Lakers when she put up a career-high 20 points.

“They work together well,” said Pietila. “I think they’re still learning each other, obviously, with Soraya not playing too much until this season. But Alyssa cuts really well and Soraya is able to find that. There’s a few times against Lake State where we were just having Soraya come off ball screens, and there was a few times where Alyssa’s girl lost vision. She had to help up on Soraya and was able to backdoor cut and get a few easy layups and buckets that way.

“That just makes our offense so much easier when we have players that are able to do that and then play off of each other. (It) makes it a lot more efficient and easy for us to get good looks offensively.”

Scouting the Warriors

The Wayne State Warriors come into this weekend 12-4 overall and 7-1 in GLIAC play. They are coming off a sweep of Wisconsin-Parkside and Roosevelt last week. Their one loss in GLIAC play was to the No. 1 Grand Valley State Lakers on Jan. 8

They are led offensively by junior guard McKenna Ferguson, who is averaging 16.3 points per game. She shoots 46.1% from beyond the arc.

Senior forward Taylor Thompson averages near a double-double at 14.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Senior forward Gabi Lutchka has also been very good, averaging 13.9 points per game.

Scouting the Pride

The Purdue Northwest Pride are 3-13 overall for the season, and 1-7 in GLIAC play after a weekend that saw them get swept by Roosevelt and Wisconsin-Parkside, but that doesn’t mean they will be an easy victory.

Senior forward Alyssa Cole leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Ciara Sims averages 11.9 points per game.

Sophomore guard Cameryn Phillips has also been strong, scoring 10.8 points per game. Sophomore guard Riley Milausnic is the fourth Pride player to average in double figures with 10.5 points per game.

Game times

The Huskies and Warriors are set to tip off Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the SDC Gym in Houghton. Saturday, the Huskies and Pride will battle starting at 12 p.m.