Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan women's basketball team, ranked No. 22, faced their first defeat of the season against Northwood with a final score of 68-50. The game took place in Midland, Michigan, where the Wildcats now stand at an 8-1 record while the Timberwolves improved to 3-7.

Despite leading 30-25 at halftime, Northern Michigan struggled in the second half. Their shooting percentage dropped significantly to 17.4%, as they managed only six out of 35 attempts. Northwood capitalized on this, scoring the first 12 points after halftime and dominating the third quarter with a 26-8 run and eventually outscoring NMU by a margin of 43-20 over the last two quarters. In contrast, Northwood's shooting improved to 53.8% during this period.

Jacy Weisbrod emerged as the top scorer for Northern Michigan with 27 points on a shooting performance of 10-19, including six three-pointers from twelve attempts. Her season average has now reached 16.7 points per game, ranking her second in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

Northwood's standout players were Lea Holmes and Maddie Voelker who collectively scored 45 points on efficient shooting of 16-25 (64%). Holmes also contributed significantly with 14 rebounds which helped Northwood gain a commanding advantage in both rebounding (46-34) and points in the paint (38-20).

The Wildcats initially led after the first quarter with Weisbrod contributing three three-pointers for a total of eleven points. Although they maintained their lead into halftime thanks to another last-second three-pointer from Weisbrod, they were unable to maintain their momentum in the latter half.

In addition to their strong performance from the field, Northwood excelled at free throws by converting fourteen out of fifteen attempts (93.3%) in the second half and eighteen out of nineteen overall (94.7%).

Looking ahead, Northern Michigan will aim to recover from this loss when they visit Ashland for another top-25 matchup against No.21 Eagles on Sunday.