HOUGHTON, Mich. — The Northern Michigan women's basketball team closed regular-season play by taking on Michigan Tech Thursday at SDC Gymnasium.

The Huskies, now 19-7 (15-6 GLIAC), ran out to an early lead and never trailed, downing the Wildcats by a 72-37 margin.

Bre Gaspervich led Northern Michigan with 14 points. Darby Youngstrom was next with nine.

Two Huskies, Morgan Anderson and Brenna Heise, scored 17 points. Heise also hauled in a game-best seven rebounds.

Entering the game, Michigan Tech had clinched the fourth seed in the GLIAC tournament. With this result, Northern Michigan, now 17-11 (12-9 GLIAC), will be seeded seventh and travel to GLIAC North champion Saginaw Valley State (21-6, 17-4 GLIAC) for the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.

This is the sixth-straight season the Wildcats have qualified for the GLIAC tournament. Since the 1990-91 campaign, Northern Michigan has qualified for 23 of 27 GLIAC tournaments, including 15 in a row from 1991 to 2005.

In the first quarter, the Huskies raced out to a 23-8 lead. By halftime, they were up, 39-15.

The Wildcats put 22 points on the board in the second half by shooting 35.7 percent from the floor and 66.7 from beyond the three-point arc, but they could not overcome their early deficit.

Michigan Tech held the advantage in points in the paint, 20-16, rebounds, 39-35 and bench points, 20-0.