Negaunee’s Alyssa Hill leads Wildcats with 19 points
HAMMOND, Ind. – The No. 12 Northern Michigan Wildcats pulled away from the Purdue Northwest Pride in the second quarter and never looked back, emerging victorious 82-57 on Valentine’s Day afternoon.
The Wildcats were led by Alyssa Hill with 19 points, tying her highest output at Northern. She added five rebounds. Jacy Weisbrod added a dozen, Jordyn Schmittdiel contributed 10 points and a team-high seven boards off the bench, and Sarah Newcomer also found double figures with 10.
CJ Romero dished out seven of Northern’s assists. NMU also commanded the glass 40-31, while leading in steals 9-1, second-chance points 17-4, and points off turnovers 8-0. Northern committed a season-low four turnovers in the game.
NMU moved to 21-5 overall and 12-4 in the GLIAC with the win.
The Wildcats put together an early 10-0 surge, sparked by a pair of threes from Jacy Weisbrod to build a 13-4 advantage. Purdue Northwest answered by scoring 13 of the final 18 points of the period, trimming the margin to 18-17 after one.
Weisbrod opened the period with another triple as NMU used a 9-2 spurt to push the margin to eight. The Pride responded with six straight, but the Wildcats answered with a 9-0 run to extend the lead into double figures at 38-27 and carried a 38-29 advantage into halftime.
The ‘Cats knocked down four of its first five shots after the break to stretch the lead to 13. Alyssa Hill fueled the surge with nine points in the quarter as Northern continued to build separation, taking a 60-46 advantage into the fourth.
Jordyn Schmittdiel opened the final frame with three straight buckets as Northern scored the first 10 points of the quarter to push the lead to 66-46. Purdue Northwest started the fourth 0-6 from the field, and the early surge effectively put the game out of reach.
Up Next
The Wildcats will host rival Michigan Tech on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 5:30 p.m. in a White Out, with all fans encouraged to wear white.
