MU’s basketball team opened its season on Friday with a 64–58 comeback win over Northgate, erasing a nine-point half-time deficit in front of the loudest home crowd the sports hall has held since before the pandemic years.
Northgate controlled the first half through size, winning the rebound count and feeding their centre relentlessly. MU went to the break down 31–22 having scored just seven points in the second quarter.
Whatever was said in the changing room stayed there — “team business,” said coach Adrian Foster, with a smile that suggested it worked. MU opened the third quarter pressing full-court, forced five Northgate turnovers in four minutes, and cut the lead to two before the quarter ended.
We stopped waiting for the game to come to us. The press wasn’t about steals — it was about deciding the terms.
Adrian Foster, head coach
The closing run
The final quarter belonged to captain Imani Walker, who scored eleven of her team-high nineteen points after the restart, including the three-pointer that gave MU its first lead with six minutes left. From there MU closed on a 21–6 run, sealed by two free throws with eleven seconds remaining.
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MU | 15 | 7 | 20 | 22 | 64 |
| Northgate | 18 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 58 |
Walker finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds; point guard Eli Brandt added 14 points and 6 assists. For Northgate, centre R. Duke led all scorers with 21.
MU travels to Eastfield next Friday before returning home for a two-game stand. “One game,” Foster cautioned. “A good one. But one.”
The bench made the difference
Beyond the stars, Foster reserved his warmest words for the bench: reserves played 34 minutes combined, and the press that broke the game open was run largely by the second unit. “The starters got the lead. The bench got the turnovers that made the lead possible,” he said. Sophomore guard Nadia Osei, in her first varsity appearance, drew two of the five third-quarter turnovers and left the court to the game’s loudest ovation short of the final buzzer.
The crowd itself made news of a sort: the student section filled forty minutes before tip-off, organised by a supporters’ group that formed over the summer and arrived with rehearsed chants and a drum of contested legality. The sports department confirmed the drum survives on probation, pending, in the athletic coordinator’s words, “continued rhythmic restraint during free throws.”
