The NMU women’s basketball team warmed up for their season on Nov. 3, with a 71-45 loss to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The game saw the ‘Cats outplay the Division-I UW-GB Phoenix throughout the first half of the game. Finishing the half with a 37-35 lead over Phoenix, who entered the game ranked 21 in the AP Women’s Basketball Poll.
UW-GB clamped down on defense in the second half of the game holding NMU to only eight points the entire half.
Head coach Troy Mattson said he felt Northern played well in the game, considering that they spread out playing time among all the members of the team. All 12 NMU players recorded more than 10 minutes worth of game time.
“We played a lot of people in the game. We had at least 12 girls who played 10 minutes or more,” Mattson said. “Green Bay didn’t do that; they played their starters a lot more and took advantage of some of our freshmen.”
Kelsey Deacon led all scorers in the game with 18 points. Deacon’s points all came from beyond the three point arc, including a shot that just beat the halftime buzzer and quieted the over 3,000 fans in attendance, Mattson said.
“When it was halftime and we were up, it didn’t seem like there was 3,000-some people in that building. No one was even making a whisper,” Mattson said.
The team has a break until Nov. 16 and 17 when they travel to Minnesota to take part in the Concordia-St. Paul tournament. The ‘Cats will take on Augustana on the first day of the tournament and finish with Concordia-St. Paul.
