Minnesota Duluth 85 – NMU 70
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The No. 15 Northern Michigan women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night, falling 85-70 to Minnesota Duluth on Friday night. The Wildcats moved to 6-1, while the Bulldogs improved to 2-2.
NMU trailed the entirety of the game and fell behind 25-15 after the first quarter, struggling from deep while UMD opened the night shooting well. The Bulldogs finished 29-51 (56.9%) from the field and 9-16 (56.3%) from three, while the Wildcats went 5-20 (25.0%) and didn’t hit their first triple until the third quarter.
Despite the uphill climb, NMU surged in the third, outscoring Duluth 23-12 and using a 12-0 run to cut a 16-point deficit down to four. Sydney Whitehouse sparked the push with all eight of her points in a three-minute stretch. The Wildcats generated 21 points off Bulldog turnovers while allowing only five the other way. But UMD closed strong, going a perfect 8-8 from the field in the fourth and outscoring NMU 30-21 in the final frame to seal the win.
Jacy Weisbrod led all scorers with 23 points, including three of NMU’s five triples. Addison Pytkleski added 15, while Cj Romero contributed six assists. Alyssa Hill was efficient inside, going 3-4 from the field to finish at a team-best 75%.
Duluth countered with a balanced effort, led by Claire Bjorge’s 20 points and 19 each from Myra Moorjani and Lexi Karge.
How it Happened
The Bulldogs opened the game scoring the first six before Weisbrod got NMU on the board with a step back. Duluth stretched its lead to 13-6 before Jordyn Schmittdiel and Madison Schroeder came off the bench and made immediate impacts. UMD’s third triple of the opening frame, while NMU had none, made it 25-15 heading to the second.
Duluth’s Moorjani knocked down a pair of threes in the second, as the Bulldogs started 6-10 from beyond the arc in comparison to NMU’s 0-8. That was the difference in the opening half, as the Bulldogs held a sizable 43-26 lead at intermission.
ON NMU’s 10th three-point attempt, Weisbrod connected to make it 46-32. Trailing by 16, the Wildcats got an impact from Sydney Whitehouse, who scored all eight of her points over a three-minute stretch in the third to fuel a 12-0 run and close NMU’s deficit to 48-44. The Bulldogs stretched it back to nine, but another Weisbrod three made it 55-49 heading to the final frame.
Weisbrod and Whitehouse each had eight in NMU’s best quarter of the night, in which they outscored Duluth 23-12.
The Bulldogs had the answer, though. A 7-0 run to start the fourth widened the gap back to 14. A triple from CJ Romero briefly made it single-digits, but the next five went to the Bulldogs as they outscored NMU 30-21 in the final quarter and went an unprecedented 8-8 from the field to close the game out.
Up Next
The Wildcats will return to the road to face Minnesota Crookston (1-2) in back-to-back games on Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30.
