This past weekend the NMU Women’s basketball team took on Duluth, Minnesota and St. Cloud State at home. Unfortunately, the Wildcat’s lost both games falling to Duluth 37-50 and 51-55 in a nail biter of a game against St. Cloud.

“Really our focus now is playing a complete game for four quarters and not worrying about one or two plays at the end like that doesn’t do anything,” Head Coach Casey Thousand said.

Junior guard Makaylee Kuhn had 14 points, 10 rebounds and one assist in the game against Duluth and 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists in the game against St. Cloud State. After her performance, Kuhn has been recognized as one of the star players on the team by Thousand.

“[Kuhn] does a great job for us and we know that, but we have to have some other people and step up,” Thousand said. “But again, we’re preaching that consistency … we know what we’re getting from [Kuhn].”

Two other players to note are sophomore forward Abi Fraaza who had four points, five rebounds and one assist in the Duluth game. Fraaza also played well in the St. Cloud game having eight points, six rebounds and two assists. Sophomore forward Vivianne Jende also had six rebounds and one assist against Duluth.

“[Jende] is great in the starting lineup, but when we can throw [Fraaza] out there too, and she can grab a couple of those boards. She’s a tough rebounder for us, but she also has a really good score for us,” Thousand said.

The Wildcat’s are hoping to get some of their injured players back like sophomore guard Taya Stevenson to help bolster the roster and help the ‘Cats get back to full strength as they start conference play this week.

“It will be good to have a couple more people on our bench,” Thousand said. “[Stevenson] brings toughness and a different kind of inspiration to the game for our team for sure.”

The Wildcat’s used this past weekend as a learning opportunity and went back over the film to help them prepare for the next set of games as the ‘Cats head to Kenosha, WI to face off against the UW-Parkside Rangers on Dec. 3.

“There are some things that we can tweak and that we can do and really focusing again on that defensive end for us to make sure we get stops and get stops early,” Thousand said. “Our focus is going to be on … finding different ways within our offense to score.”