Whitehouse leads Wildcats with 18 points
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan women’s basketball team fell 73-66 in the GLIAC Semifinals on Saturday evening.
Tied 63-63 with 90 seconds to play, the Bulldogs scored 10 straight to knock off the Wildcats and advance to Sunday’s championship tilt against the host Lakers.
Holding the lead for nearly the entirety of the game, the Wildcats shot just 6-17 (35.3%) in the final quarter while the Bulldogs ended hot, going 9-13 (69.2%) over the final 10 minutes including 4-5 from three. Kenzie Bowers led the comeback efforts, scoring 11 of her 12 points in a five-minute span to end the game.
The Wildcats were led by freshman Sydney Whitehouse who poured in a game-high 18 points. She shot 8-11 (72.7%) from the field. She had 13 in the first half on a perfect 6-6. Alyssa Nimz (15) and Abi Fraaza (11) also found double figures. Fraaza also pulled down 10 boards for her first career double-double.
In a fairly even game across the stat sheet, the Bulldogs made their mark with turnovers, converting on 20 points off 13 NMU turnovers while the Wildcats had only 10 points off 10 FSU mishaps.
How it Happened
The Wildcats started hot, converting on nine of their first 12 shot attempts to quickly build a double-digit lead at 19-9 with 3:20 left in the first. They’d lead 23-15 after one, shooting 10-16 (62.5%).
The Bulldogs answered with an 8-0 run to start the second that tied the game. NMU missed its first five shots before Fraaza connected from beyond the arc, triggering an 8-1 run with five from Whitehouse to get back ahead 31-24 at 4:30.
Leading 38-35 at the break, NMU shot 16-28 (57.1%) in the first half to FSU’s 14-32 (43.8%).
Whitehouse was again a part of an NMU run in the third, connecting on consecutive layups to start an 8-0 run and lead 50-41. She started 8-8 from the floor, which would have tied an NMU single-game program record for most makes without a miss had her shooting ended there.
The third was the lowest scoring quarter of the night, with NMU edging the Bulldogs 13-10 to lead 51-45 heading to the fourth. Both sides were below 40% from the field.
Nimz banked in a shot to open the fourth quarter scoring, but a pair of threes highlighted a 8-0 FSU run to tie the game 53-53 with 5 minutes to play.
The next few minutes were hectic, as the sides exchanged blows and with that, the lead.
Tied at 63’s with 1:30 to play, FSU’s Bowers made back-to-back contested layups at the rim to lead 67-63 at 0:34. NMU was not able to answer and the Bulldogs iced the game at the free throw line, as Mya Hiram went 6-6 in the closing seconds.
Up Next
The Wildcats will await their fate for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, with the selection show taking place on Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. The Wildcats entered the weekend at No. 3 in the region, with the top-8 Midwest teams making the big dance on Sunday.
