The NMU Women’s Basketball team faced off against Purdue Northwest’s Pride on Friday inside of the PEIF Gymnasium. The Wildcats struggled hard and brought home the victory with a 73-61 win.
NMU stands second in the GLIAC North division only beaten out by Michigan Tech and sixth in the 2021 GLIAC season. Friday’s victory puts them at a positive record of 9-8 this season. The Pride put up a hard fight, barely giving any leads to the Wildcats in all four quarters with only a two-point lead for NMU at the end of the 3rd quarter making it anyone’s game in the final struggle of the last quarter.
“It felt like we were in trouble the whole time,” Head Coach Troy Mattson said. “Their guards are really talented, Savaya Brockington is one of the hardest two or three people in this league to guard and she just gave us fits all night long until the fourth quarter”.
Wildcats aren’t without their own star players though. Sophomore guard Makaylee Kuhn played an amazing game turning up 34 points for NMU, only a few away from her career-high. Kuhn managed to get her career high of 39 points in Saturday’s game. Also, players like junior forward Elaina Aleix added 12 points and sophomore guard Samantha Potter had eight. The girls played good offense, shooting 50% from the field and 46% from the 3-point range.
“Offensively I thought we did a really good job,” Mattson said. “50% from the field, almost 50% from the 3-point line, 21-24 from the free-throw line and only 10 turnovers.”
The victory was not without its faults, defensively the Wildcats struggled with great offensive pressure put on by the Pride. Purdue’s sophomore guard Savaya Brokington scored 21 points for her team, and was credited as one of the hardest players to guard in the league. The Wildcats are going to have to keep that in mind while making a solid defense for their next face off.
“Defensively we were not quite as sharp as I was hoping that we would be, but you got to credit her [Savaya Brockington], I mean she just puts so much pressure on you, and [Anjel] Galbraith is a really good point guard too.” Mattson said “Fortunately in the fourth quarter we kind of buckled down and did a little better job with both of them, but that’s going to have to be a constant tomorrow for four quarters. It’s a scary team, we did some good things in some areas but we got some things to clean up before tomorrow, hopefully, we can execute again on the offensive end, and hopefully, we can execute on the defensive end better.”
The Wildcats did a better job defensively against the Pride on Saturday, getting the sweep with a 65-55 victory. They kept their winning streak alive just ahead of the GLIAC Tournament.
With a lot of pressure and a lot to shape up for the next game the ‘Cats are sure to give it their all to end this season on a high note.
