SPRING ARBOR, Mich. — Jordan Steele scored 17 points on four 3-pointers, but IU Northwest couldn't recover from a third-quarter drought and fell 83-60 to No. 25 Spring Arbor on Saturday.
The RedHawks (0-2) shot 35.8 percent and turned the ball over 26 times. The Cougars (2-1) turned those into 24 points and outrebounded IU Northwest 53-30.
IU Northwest trailed 11-4 early but kept it close, and Aniyah Hinton-Henry's layup at the first-quarter buzzer made it 18-12. Nia Allen, who scored the RedHawks' first basket to tie the game at 2, finished with 14 points and three steals.
The RedHawks made their push in the second quarter. Aaliyah Keil's layup, off a Gracie Little assist, began an 8-0 run, and Steele followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Spring Arbor's lead to 25-20 with 5:59 left in the half. The Cougars called timeout and answered with a 16-6 stretch, led by Megan Zeitz and Ashley Weller, to take a 41-26 lead at the break.
The third quarter got away from IU Northwest. After Allen's layup made it 41-28, Spring Arbor ran off 15 straight points to lead 56-28. The RedHawks went more than four minutes without scoring before Hinton-Henry's layup with 4:59 left. Steele hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, off an Ava Kingery assist, to make it 63-42 after three.
IU Northwest outscored the Cougars 15-13 over the final 8:21, but Spring Arbor's lead had reached as many as 28. Kingery fouled out with 4:18 left. She finished with four points, five assists and two steals.
Hinton-Henry added 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. Little finished with seven points, five rebounds and three assists, and Keil scored six points.
IU Northwest plays Grace in the ONU Tiger Classic in Bourbonnais, Ill., on Friday, Nov. 6, with tipoff at 5 p.m. CT.
