Lady Wildcats fall to Cardinals
Courtesy of NMU Athletics
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team dropped a 71-68 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference matchup at Saginaw Valley State Thursday.
The loss moves the Wildcats to 11-4 overall with an 8-3 GLIAC mark. SVSU improved to 7-7 and 5-6 in the league.
Northern Michigan trailed by 12, 37-25 at the half but a three-pointer by junior Abbey DeBruin with 2:32 left in the game tied the contest 62-62. A three-pointer by senior Annie Rubendunst gave NMU its first lead of the contest 65-63 with 1:53 left in the game.
Kayla Womack tied the game at 65-65 for the Cardinals with a layup with 1:37 left in the contest. A three-pointer by junior Sarah Miller with 1:11 left gave NMU a 68-65 lead. SVSU went 5-6 from the free throw line the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Rubendunst led NMU with her first career double-double scoring career highs with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Alyssa Colla had 13 points while DeBruin and junior Lauren Gruber eeach added 12. Kayla Womack led the Cardinals with 20 points.
“It was a very disappointing loss,” said NMU head coach Troy Mattson. “We didn’t come ready to play again. But I do commend the five players that played in the second half. They played hard and its unfortunate we weren’t able to get the win.”
Saginaw Valley outrebounded NMU 37-32 including a margin of 13-7 on the offensive boards. The Cardinals took a 20 point lead, 29-9, when Samantha Zirzow laid the ball in with 6:26 left in the first half.
NMU outscored the Cardinals 16-8 the remainder of the half to set the halftime score.
The Wildcats shot 45.6 percent from the floor connecting on 26-57 of their field goals while Saginaw Valley State shot 43.3 percent from the floor connecting on 26-60 of their attempts.
NMU continues action on the road at Wayne State at 1 p.m. Saturday.