DeBruin & Rubendunst lead NMU past T’Wolves
Courtesy of NMU Athletics
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Junior forward Abbey DeBruin and senior forward Annie Rubendunst scored career highs to lead the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team to a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Tournament Quarterfinal win over No. 7-seeded Northwood, 82-64, at the Berry Events Center Wednesday.
“We really settled down and got the game under control in the second half. I thought we had a great stretch in the second half where we executed well on the offensive end,” said head coach Troy Mattson. “We were able to get enough stops and defensive rebounds. People made some extremely good plays going to the basket. I’m impressed with the way we’re playing right now. We really got things under control on both ends of the court, and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
The Wildcats now travel to face No. 3-seeded Michigan Tech at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. in the GLIAC Semifinals Saturday (March 8). The championship game of the GLIAC Tournament will be played on Sunday (March 9).
NMU improved to 20-7 with the win while Northwood wrapped up its season with a 14-13 overall mark.
DeBruin led all players scoring 25 points going 6-6 from the floor, 1-1 from three point range and 12-16 from the free throw line. Rubendunst scored 23 going 7-14 from the field, 3-4 from three-point range and 6-7 from the charity stripe.
Junior guard Alyssa Colla rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Wildcats adding 14 points.
NMU led 33-26 at the break sparked by 13 first half points from Rubendunst and 12 from DeBruin. NMU trailed by four 23-19 with 7:11 left on the clock in the first, but the Wildcats held the Timberwolves without a field goal the remainder of the first and outscored them 14-3 to set the halftime score.
A three-pointer from Rubendunst with 16:52 remaining in the contest gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead 43-32. A layup by Rubendunst with 16:14 left put the Wildcats on top by double-digits for the remainder of the game 47-36.
Layups by sophomore forward Nea Makela and junior guard Lauren Gruber with 9:21 and 8:17 left gave NMU its largest leads of the game 64-41 and 66-43.
NMU shot 52.2-percent from the floor connecting on 24-46 of their attempts. The Wildcats also went 5-10 from three point range and 29-36 from the free throw line.
The Wildcats outrebounded Northwood 41-29 led by Gruber with a career-high 11 boards while Makela had nine. NMU edged the Timberwolves 36-34 in the paint while Northwood scored 17 points off 18 Wildcat miscues.
Gabrielle Rivette led the Timberwolves with 20 points while Emily Kutch, Lauren Robak and Sarah Susan added 12 points each for Northwood.