MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Northern Michigan women's basketball team has advanced to the GLIAC Championship and will take on host and No. 1 seed Grand Valley State on Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m. It's been 10 years since Northern Michigan has raised the postseason hardware, last winning the conference tournament title in 2013-14 over Wayne State. 

Northern defeated Wayne State 51-48 in the quarterfinals and took down Ferris State 63-56 in Saturday's semifinal to reach the championship tilt. Grand Valley managed Purdue Northwest in its quarterfinal and followed it up with a victory over Parkside in the semifinal. 


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Follow @NMU_WBBall and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly known as Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the race. 

Fridday, March 9 - vs. No. 2 Ferris State at 4:30 p.m. (Allendale, Mich.)
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Cat Nips

• The Wildcats are ranked at No. 4 in the latest Midwest Regional poll.
• In the last nine games, NMU has averaged 67.4 points/game while allowing just 57.2. 
• Senior Makaylee Kuhn is second in the conference averaging 17.3 ppg and is fifth at 6.8 rpg. She has scored in double figures in all but three games this season and has averaged 18.8 ppg over the last nine. Being named First Team All-GLIAC on Friday, she is a four-time All-GLIAC First Teamer. Kuhn is NMU's all-time leading scorer with 1,973 career points.
• Sophomore guard Jacy Weisbrod is averaging 12.5 points/game this season, a top-10 conference mark. She is far-and-away the conference leader in threes, connecting on 79-194 (40.7%). She has made at least one in all 28 of her games this season and has connected on 5+ an outstanding six times. Weisbrod was recently named to the All-GLIAC Second Team.
• Ana Rhude has been a force in the paint, rejecting 41 shots this season (second in the league). Over the last four, she is averaging an eye-popping 3.3 blocks/game. Her 136 career blocks is currently tied for the all-time program record (Jessica Schultz)
• Northern leads the GLIAC in fewest turnovers/game (12.0), which is the third best mark in the country.
• After struggling from the three-point line a season ago where they went just 121-454 (26.7%), the 'Cats have made tremendous strides beyond the arc this season, as they are second in the GLIAC in made threes and third in percentage (211-643 - 32.8%). 
• The Green and Gold can present a balanced scoring attack on any given night, as nine different 'Cats have recorded a double-digit output game this season.
• In two seasons under head coach Casey Thousand, the Wildcats have hosted a playoff game in each and have a record of 36-21 (.632). 

Against the Lakers
Northern has dropped the last 11 in the series, but took Grand Valley to overtime less than two weeks ago, ultimately falling 74-67. 

Makaylee Kuhn was stellar in the game, scoring 27 points on 11-19 shooting, with 17 of those coming in the second half and overtime. The Wildcats found themselves down much of the night, but continued to chip away and finally pulled even on the last bucket of regulation, a three-point splash from Kuhn with eight seconds left, sending the game to an extra session knotted at 58 apiece. 

The Lakers scored the first four in the bonus five minutes and didn't look back. GVSU's Rylie Bisballe paced the Laker attack with 28 points. 


GLIAC Tournament
Wednesday, March 6 | Quarterfinals
Campus sites, higher seed is host

Game 1    No. 1 Grand Valley State defeats No. 8 Purdue Northwest, 65-54
Game 2    No. 5 Parkside defeats No. 4 Michigan Tech, 51-49
Game 3    No. 3 Northern Michigan defeats No. 6 Wayne State, 51-48
Game 4    No. 2 Ferris State defeats No. 7 Saginaw Valley State, 54-47

Saturday, March 9 | Semifinals
Hosted by Grand Valley State

Game 5    No. 1 Grand Valley State defeats No. 5 Parkside, 72-59  
Game 6    No. 3 Northern Michigan defeats No. 2 Ferris State, 63-56  

Sunday, March 10 | Championship 
Hosted by Grand Valley State

Game 7    No. 1 Grand Valley State vs. No. 3 Northern Michigan, 3 p.m.