The NMU women’s basketball team remained active over winter vacation, facing several conference games to continue the season.
The girls move on to a 5-5 record after the most recent game on Saturday, Jan. 12. The Wildcats lost in a close 47-46 game against the current northern division No. 1 seed Ferris State, leaving the ’Cats tied for fifth place out of eight other teams in the GLIAC north conference.
On Thursday, Dec. 6, the ’Cats pulled out a win for their conference home opener when they defeated Hillsdale College 58-48. NMU held the lead the entire game, earning an early 2-1 conference record.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 8, the Wildcats earned themselves another win against the University of Findlay. The first half proved to be a close match, but NMU put on the pressure and finished with a 59-49 win.
The 10 point margin came from the boards, where the Wildcats proved to have a solid night. The girls tallied up 22 rebounds in the second half, in comparison to the 12 that Findlay marked.
Head coach Troy Mattson said pleased with the outcome of the game that night.
“Findlay is one of the best teams in our league, so for us it was a really, really big win,” Mattson said. “Rebounding is something that we concentrate on for the majority of the season and Findlay is a big, athletic team. For us to dominate the boards was a big plus.”
On Sunday, Dec. 16, the girls hit the road for a game against Ohio Dominican University. The game went back and forth between the two teams, but the ‘Cats sealed the victory with a 54-45 win. Sophomore guard Lauren Gruber attributed the success to better defense in the second half.
“We kept the pressure up and forced turnovers on them,” Gruber said. “We also handled the ball very well and had fewer turnovers ourselves, which really made the difference.”
In the final game of the year for NMU on Tuesday, Dec. 18, Tiffin University handed the ’Cats a conference lost.
Northern Michigan’s freshman forward Nea Makela led all scorers with 20 points, but the ’Cats struggled with taking care of the ball, giving the Dragons 30 points off of turnovers. The end result was a 63-75 loss for the ’Cats.
“Anytime you lose it’s disappointing, it does not leave you with a positive feeling,” Mattson said. “But we came back and had some good practices getting prepared for Ashland.”
The Wildcats rang in the New Year on Thursday, Jan. 3 with the home game against No. 1-ranked Ashland University. Ashland went on to beat the ’Cats 46-63.
The team was home again on Saturday, Jan. 5 to play conference team Lake Erie College. With 24 seconds left on the clock, the Storm came within three points of taking the lead. Gruber sunk four from the foul line to clench another conference victory for the ’Cats.
Gruber said those free-throws were important to the team.
“We shoot 100 free-throws every day in practice, 50 before we start and 50 after,” Gruber said. “We really have to focus to step- up and make those contributions to the game when we are at the line.”
On Saturday, Jan. 12, NMU fought a close fight against Ferris State University. Sophomore center Courtney Lemon scored the first points of the game with a layup to put NMU on the board.
In the end, however, the ’Cats fell short, 46-47.
The lady ’Cats take the court again in the late game at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 17 at the Berry Events Center, where they will face Saginaw Valley State following the men’s game at 5:30 p.m.
