Makaylee Kuhn

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Northern Michigan University fell into a deep hole in the first half and couldn’t climb out of it in a 53-35 women’s basketball loss at St. Cloud State on Friday afternoon.

Makaylee Kuhn led scorers for NMU (3-2), but only had eight points as the Wildcats fell behind 22-7 after one quarter and 38-16 at halftime. They actually outscored the Huskies in both the third and fourth quarters but barely put a dent in their halftime deficit.

Kuhn was just 3 of 14 from the field (21 percent) as the entire Northern team was only 14 of 55 (26 percent). Kuhn did make both her free-throw attempts while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.

Teammate Emily Mueller added six points and six rebounds, while Kayla Tierney scored five points, making the team’s only 3-pointer in their 13 attempts.

Nikki Kilboten paced St. Cloud (3-1) with 20 points and seven rebounds.

The Huskies raced out to leads of 5-0 and 16-2 before Kuhn hit the Wildcats’ second bucket with 4:19 left in the opening quarter.

In the second half, NMU only got as close at 43-26 in the third quarter and 49-34 in the fourth.

Northern remains in Minnesota for a game at Minnesota-Duluth that tips off at 3 p.m. EST today.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.