The NMU women’s basketball team will look to put last weekend’s tough defeats behind them as they continue to fight their way through a tough Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) schedule this week.

On Thursday the ‘Cats will take on Ferris State (12-5 overall, 7-1 GLIAC) at the Berry Event Center; on Saturday, the Findlay Oilers (8-9 overall, 2-6 GLIAC) travel to Marquette for their turn with the Wildcats.

“These are two very good basketball teams,” head coach Troy Mattson said. “Ferris St. is one of the top teams in the (GLIAC) North Division.”

Ferris State is led by GLIAC pre-season player of the year Rachel Folcik. She is averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds entering Thursday’s game. The ‘Cats will rely heavily on junior Cassie Hegbloom to guard Folcik, Mattson said.

“We just need to slow her down, I think she scored 34 twice against us last year, and that’s not slowing anyone down,” Mattson said. “We’ll have to concentrate on her number [one] and then build the rest of our defense off of that”

Mattson said NMU will be looking for improved shooting from the team, especially junior guard Kelsey Deacon, who is in a 2-17 shooting funk from beyond the three point arc. Despite the shooting troubles in the past two games, Deacon is currently second in the GLIAC in three point field goals, averaging 2.29 threes per game.

We are going to have to play better on offense.we missed a lot of shots that need to be made and I don’t understand why because we have actually shot a pretty decent percentage this year and for some reason we hit a lull and we can’t make any shots,” Mattson said. “That’s our biggest concern right now.”

Thursday’s game against Ferris State is at 5:30 p.m. at the Berry Events Center. After the basketball games there will be a volunteer auction in the Wildcat Room beginning at 9 p.m. Selected NMU coaches will be auctioned off to perform chores for the winning bidders.