MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team slipped to 4-3 this season after suffering a pair of losses to quality opposition in Minnesota over the weekend.

St. Cloud State (3-0) took a 66-56 victory before NCAA Division II No. 25 Minnesota-Duluth (4-1) walked off with 63-42 win.

The Wildcats have the next 10 days off before opening their GLIAC campaign at home against a pair of opponents. NMU hosts Wayne State at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, and Saginaw Valley State at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, both games likely to be played at the university’s PEIF gym.

Here is a rundown of the Minnesota trip:

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St. Cloud State 66, NMU 56

On Saturday afternoon in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the Wildcats struggled with their shooting that better free throw shooting and ball handling couldn’t overcome.

NMU shot just 28% from the field (19 of 68) including 22% on 3-pointers (6 of 27), while St. Cloud had just about double that success there, making 53% from the field (24 of 45) and 41% on triples (7 of 17).

Northern did make 75% on free throws (12 of 16) and committed just 11 turnovers compared to the Huskies shooting 52% on freebies (11 of 21) and committing 17 turnovers.

Makaylee Kuhn led the Wildcats with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four steals while not committing a turnover in 34 minutes playing time. Teammate Ana Rhude added 12 points and five rebounds, while Sarah Newcomer had seven rebounds and Mackenzie Holzwart four assists.

Jasmine Litt paced SCSU with 20 points.

Though NMU jumped out to a 5-2 lead following a Kayla Tierney triple and Kuhn jumper, St. Cloud soon took the lead, using a 13-1 surge to go up 15-6 with 3:30 left in the opening quarter.

Still leading 18-11 to start the second, the Huskies made it 25-13 with 6:35 left in the first half. Northern used a 7-0 run to cut it to 28-23 after Rhude made a layup with 2:34 left, but SCSU still maintained a 33-25 advantage at halftime.

The Wildcats made another incursion to start the second half, getting within 33-29 after a pair of Kuhn 2-pointers, but St. Cloud had the answer again, using an 18-3 roll to get a 51-32 stranglehold with 3:24 to go in the third.

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Minnesota-Duluth 63, NMU 42

On Sunday afternoon in Duluth, Minnesota, Newcomer was the only Wildcat to score in double figures, putting in 13 points as she made 3 of 5 triples. Kuhn had seven points and Rhude pulled down 13 rebounds to go with four points.

Northern’s shooting remained well under 30% at 13 of 60 (22%) as Duluth made nearly 50% (26 of 54, 48%). The Bulldogs’ Madelyn Granica led all scorers with 27 points.

NMU struggled right out of the gate, making just 2 of its first 16 shots (13%) in the opening 10 minutes.

Though Rhude opened the scoring with a traditional three-point play just 80 seconds in, Duluth raced to a 16-6 lead after one quarter, getting its advantage to as many as 17, 25-8, with 3:45 left in the first half as the Bulldogs kept a 30-16 edge at halftime.

While the Wildcats got their deficit back into single digits during the third quarter, Duluth entered the fourth with a 43-32 advantage, bumping it to 24 points just before finishing with a 21-point win.

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