ASHLAND, Ohio – The No. 24-ranked Northern Michigan women's basketball team dropped its first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference matchup of the season losing at Ashland 74-60 Thursday.

NMU moves to 9-2 overall with a 6-1 conference mark while Ashland improved to 6-4 on the season with a 4-2 GLIAC mark. 

"Ashland outplayed us tonight," said NMU head coach Troy Mattson. "They played better than we did. They made plays and we were unable to get the job done."

Junior guard Alyssa Colla led the Wildcats with 10 points while junior forward Abbey DeBruin had 11 rebounds for NMU. Junior guard Lauren Gruber added nine points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats. Taylor Woods led all players with 26 points for Ashland.

Although the Wildcats led most of the first half, a three-pointer by sophomore forward Nea Makela with 18-seconds left in the first half tied the game at 30-30 heading into the break. 

NMU recaptured the lead when  Gruber hit a jumper with 18:14 left to go in the game. Ashland went on a 10-1 run to take a 42-33 lead when Woods got a layup with just over 14 minutes to go. NMU battled but were unable to retake the lead.

NMU outrebounded Ashland 45-34 in the contest and outscored them 28-24 in the paint. The Wildcats shot 34.5-percent from the floor (20-58) and went 4-12 from three-point range. 

NMU continues action on the road at 1 p.m. Saturday when they travel to Lake Erie for a GLIAC matchup.