Welcome back to campus, Wildcats! While most students were gone, the NMU Women’s basketball team has been on a hot streak. Currently, the Wildcats are No. 17 in the country and are 8-1 on the season. On Sunday, the Wildcats battled against Minnesota Crookston on both Saturday and Sunday in Minnesota. Minnesota Crookston is currently 1-6 on the season.
In the first game against Crookston, the ‘Cats came away with the win, outscoring Crookston 89-57. The Wildcats and Golden Eagles started off close, ending the first quarter 17-16 with NMU leading. However, in the second quarter and the remainder of the game, the Wildcats went on a heater, scoring 32 points in the second quarter alone — widening the gap for Crookston. A large part of that was due to senior Jacy Weisbrod, who tied her career high in points in the first win over Crookston, ending the game with 29 points and three rebounds. Along with Weisbrod during the first Crookston game, sophomore forward Sydney Whitehouse recorded 11 points and six rebounds in the win. Finally, freshman guard Faith Walder scored 13 points, two rebounds, and one assist in the game.
“We knew that they were coming at us the second game and that we had to continue to play well and stack two games back-to-back, and I think our team did a pretty good job doing that,” Thousand said.
Moving onto the next day, the NMU Wildcats went back out onto the court to take on Crookston for the second time.
The Wildcats were able to sweep the Golden Eagles, this time coming away from the game with a closer margin of 78-63.
During this closer win senior guard Sarah Newcomer put up 13 points for the Wildcats, along with two rebounds and two assists. Sophomore and fellow guard Addison Pytleski came away with 15 points, three rebounds, and one assist. Forward Madison Schroeder recorded 12 points and six rebounds in the win.
These were the last two out of conference games the Wildcats will play. The rest of the season will now be against GLIAC opponents. Their first conference matchup was last night against Parkside.
The team traveled down to Kenosha, Wis. and played on Thursday. The Wildcats ended the game on top of Parkside in a close game, ending 56-48.
Senior guard CJ Romero came away from the win with five points, one rebound, and three assists. Fellow senior Alyssa Hill, forward, earned the Wildcats 11 points, 12 rebounds, and one assist.
Following the win over Parkside, the team will now travel down to Chicago to play Roosevelt for the first time this season.
“It’s always a battle between us and Parkside, between us and Roosevelt. It’s never easy and we got to be able to show up and produce and do what we wanted to do on the court,” Thousand said.
You will have the chance to see your Wildcats play at home against Northwood for the final game of the calendar year. The game will be in the Vandament Arena on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will then get a well deserved two week break before hosting Davenport on the first of the year.
“It’s never easy. We play in the GLIAC, and I will keep saying that. I think our conference is one of the top for women’s basketball in Division II…it’s never an easy game, no matter who we play. And you got to bring it, and you got to be ready to go, whether you’re on the road or you’re at home,” Thousand said.
