Northern Michigan University's Makaylee Kuhn, center, looks to pass while triple-teamed during a game earlier this season at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMIU)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s basketball accomplished just about everything it could on Thursday night, picking up a narrow win against a quality opponent while closing the gap as the Wildcats try to obtain a home berth in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament.

NMU defeated the league’s second-place team, Wisconsin-Parkside, 73-67, at the Berry Events Center while the main team it is chasing, Saginaw Valley State, was thumped by league leader Grand Valley State 72-53.

SVSU is still in the fourth and final home court spot for the first-round quarterfinals of the upcoming tourney, but Northern cut its deficit to just a half game with two games remaining in the season for NMU.

The Wildcats improved to 14-11 overall and 9-7 in the conference, while SVSU is at 9-6 in the GLIAC with one extra game to play.

Meanwhile, Parkside dropped out of a tie for second place and into third and sits at 16-9 and 11-4.

Though it was close at the end of every quarter, NMU trailed 34-32 at halftime before getting over the hump in the fourth quarter.

Makaylee Kuhn led Northern with 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists as teammate Ana Rhude also pulled down nine rebounds and another Wildcat, Sarah Newcomer, also dished out four assists.

Kuhn, who scored in double figures for the 20th time this season and reached 20 points for the seventh time, made 10 of 19 shots from the field (53%) as her team shot nearly that well, making 29 of 64 (45%). Kuhn also made just one turnover in 36 minutes court time.

Northern’s Mackenzie Holzwart added 11 points, including a 3-pointer, while making three assists and also had just one turnover after being on the court for 38 minutes.

Parkside’s Alyssa Nelson led all scorers with 23 points, hitting a pair of triples, while teammate Paty Gallasova added 17 points.

The teams traded the lead several times in the opening four minutes, but the Rangers broke an 11-11 tie with a layup by Kendal Zeiter with 3:48 left in the first quarter and led 18-15 at quarter’s end.

In the middle of a 9-0 run, NMU tied the game 20-20 on a Abi Fraaza triple with 8:36 left in the second, then took a 22-20 lead seconds later on a Kuhn layup.

The Wildcats kept the lead for about 4 1/2 minutes until Parkside retied it 27-27, then after NMU fell behind, Newcomer made a jumper to again tie it 32-32 just 1:36 before halftime.

After the Rangers made a late basket to go up 34-32 at halftime, the teams traded the lead seven times in the third quarter before Northern emerged on top 52-50 at the end of the period following a Holzwart layup with 42 seconds to go.

In the fourth, Parkside took a brief 57-56 lead with 8:36 left before the Wildcats went on a decisive 7-0 run in just 63 seconds to take the biggest lead by either team, 63-57, with 6:45 left after a Kayla Tierney 3-pointer.

NMU never gave up the lead again, getting the margin again to six points four more times, including at the final score when Andrea Perez made a pair of free throws with 3 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats play their final home game of the regular season against struggling Purdue Northwest (7-18, 3-11) at 1 p.m. today. NMU desperately needs that win, though, as Saginaw Valley State will be playing last-place Davenport (7-18, 1-14) at the same time.

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