The Northern Michigan Women’s Basketball squad snapped a 3-game losing streak and kicked off a series of home games with two decisive victories over the Lake Superior State University Lakers and the Northwood University Timberwolves over the weekend.
“I thought the defensive and rebounding end was outstanding. It was as good of a defense as we have played in a weekend all season long,” head coach Troy Mattson said. “If we can do those two things on our home court and be able to put enough points up to really put some pressure on some people, we are going to have a good chance to win some basketball games.”
The Wildcats popped out to a commanding 36-12 advantage over the Lakers by the end of the first half of Thursday’s game, thanks to a dominating second quarter in which the ‘Cats cranked out a 20-4 run.
Never breaching a single-digit score difference, the Lakers chipped away at NMU’s edge but were ultimately defeated 60-44.
Freshman forward Jessica Schultz was the only Wildcat to score in the double digits, contributing 14 points. She went eight for 10 on her free-throw attempts during the game.
Sophomore guard Darby Youngstrom tied her career highs in both rebounds (10) and assists (5) while senior guard Bre Gaspervich set a career best with seven steals.
Northern Michigan carried this momentum into Saturday’s contest, where the ladies pulled off a 70-50 victory over the Timberwolves.
The Wildcats nearly doubled Northwood’s score by the half as the ’Cats went into the locker room with the 41-22 advantage.
Three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Timberwolf Delaney Kenny cut Northern Michigan’s lead to 48-30 in the third quarter, but Northwood failed to ever clutch the lead and the Wildcats walked away with the victory.
Sophomore center Taylor Hodell led the offense with 20 points, finishing one rebound shy of a double double. Freshman forward Erin Honkala (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Schultz (11 points, 10 rebounds) each had double doubles. Gaspervich chalked up 11 points.
With a home record of 7-1 and after being on the road for the previous two weekends, sophomore guard Emily Schramek said that the team benefitted from being back at the Berry and is optimistic for the remaining games in the homestand.
“[Being on the road] was definitely very tiring mentally and physically on us so it was really nice to be home and we are looking to get five home wins in a row,” Schramek said.
The homestand concludes this weekend with three games starting off with the Ferris State Bulldogs this Thursday.
Mattson commended the Bulldogs for a strong performance against Saginaw Valley that resulted in a loss in overtime and a win over Wayne State. Ferris has been playing well lately and they will be tough competition, he added.
“[Ferris and Saginaw Valley] are two teams we just got beat by a week ago and we had a chance to win both games,” Mattson said. “Mentally and physically we need to be prepared and go out there and play like we did this past weekend. If we do that, we have got ourselves a good chance.”
Northern Michigan continues its homestand next week, hosting Ferris State at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 and Grand Valley State at 1 p.m. on Jan. 28 and concludes with Michigan Tech 6 p.m. Jan. 30.
