MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Northern Michigan women's basketball team (15-7, 9-4) will look to stay in the winning column, as they will travel to Houghton to contend with Michigan Tech (12-9, 8-5) on Saturday, February 17 at 1 p.m. This is the second matchup between the U.P. rivals this season, with the Wildcats dropping a 71-58 decision in January in Marquette.
The game will be broadcast locally on Fox-UP, with Mark Evans and Dave Ellis on the call.
Play4Kay
The GLIAC and its 10 women's basketball programs have partnered with Play4Kay and will come together to play five highly-competitive league games this Saturday in the name of raising funds for life-saving cancer research, supporting under-resourced programs that provide access to quality cancer healthcare and uniting people in the fight against all cancers affecting women.
We are proud to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund by joining Play4Kay 2024! Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech are united, competing against other GLIAC women's basketball teams to see who can raise the most money for the fight against cancer.
PLEASE CLICK HERE to learn more and donate. Together, we are United in the Fight Against Cancer!
Follow The Action
Follow @NMU_WBBall and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly known as Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the race.
Saturday, February 17 - vs. Michigan Tech at 1 p.m.
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A Word from Casey Thousand
"We got to be better on the defensive end and offensively, we have to be in attack mode again which we didn't really do that first game. It's gonna be back and forth and I'm excited to put on a better display of who we are and what we do."
Last Time Out
Northern was last on the court on Saturday, February 10th, where they started out strong and never looked back, defeating the Purdue Northwest Pride 73-62.
Northern shot, 28-61 (45.9%) from the field and 11-16 (68.8%) from the charity stripe.
Makaylee Kuhn led the way with 25 points, 20 of them coming in the second half.
Jacy Weisbrod added 15 points with three triples.
CJ Romero led the team in assists with five overall and
Abi Fraaza pulled down a team-high seven boards off the bench.
Cat Nips
- Makaylee Kuhn is coming off GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors following back-to-back 25-point performances in a pair of home wins this past week. She is first in the conference averaging 17.4 ppg and is fourth at 7.1 rpg. Kuhn is 98-119 (82.4%) from the free throw line this season, good for fifth in the GLIAC. She is a three-time All-GLIAC First Teamer and was named to the Preseason First Team.
- Northern leads the GLIAC in fewest turnovers/game (11.2), which is the second best mark in the country. The Wildcats are also 10th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.22). Northern has three players averaging at least two assists per one turnover in CJ Romero (2.6), Makaylee Kuhn (2.1) and Mackenzie Holzwart (2.0). Those rank third, fifth, and seventh, respectively, in the GLIAC.
- As a team, NMU allows just 6.3 offensive rebounds/game to opponents, the fewest across conference teams. The 'Cats are second in the conference in rebounding margin (6.5) and fourth in FT percentage (76.0%).
- After struggling from the three-point line a season ago where they went just 121-454 (26.7%), the 'Cats have made tremendous progress beyond the arc this season, as they are second in the GLIAC in made threes and percentae (169-506 - 33.4%). Jacy Weisbrod has led the way from downtown, as she is first in the GLIAC with 57 made threes and has made at least one in every game and 2+ in 11 of 13 GLIAC games. Sarah Newcomer has made a triple in all but three games this season and her 39 triples are good for sixth across GLIAC competition.
- Holzwart (3.5 assists/game) and Kuhn (2.8) are one of two pairs of teammates in the league to be averaging 2.6+ assists/game each (Wayne State - Kate McArthur 3.9 and Shea Tripp 3.2).
- The Green and Gold present a balanced scoring attack, as nine different 'Cats have recorded a double-digit output game this season.
- In the last meeting between the two foes earlier this season, Northern fell 71-58. The Huskies started hot, scoring 27 points in the first quarter while holding the Wildcats to just 16. NMU was never able to quite recover. Makaylee Kuhn scored 12 for the 'Cats while Jacy Weisbrod added another 10. Katelyn Meister led all scorers with 16 for the Huskies.
- Northern has dropped the last 14 matchups in the rivalry, not winning since January 30, 2017, when Bre Gaspervich led the way for the Green and Gold scoring 20 points and racking up five steals.
Notes on Michigan Tech
The Michigan Tech Huskies head into Saturday's rivalry matchup winners of two straight of five of its last six. Tech has an overall record of 12-9 and a GLIAC record of 8-5. Tech shoots 40.9% from the field and 32.4% from three. The Huskies get it done at the charity stripe, shooting 80.9%. That ranks first nationally.
After averaging 70.1 points/game last season, the MTU offense has taken a slight step back, as they are sixth in scoring in the conference at 63.0 points/game. They are led by junior guard Isabella Lenz who is averaging 13.0 points/game. Senior guard Katelyn Meister is second in command averaging 10.8 points/game along with 6.0 rebounds/game.
