Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod passes the ball during a GLIAC women’s game played against Wisconsin-Parkside at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Feb. 8. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

UNIVERSITY CENTER — Led by the sharpshooting of Jacy Weisbrod, the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team went ahead by double digits in the middle of the second quarter and never looked back for a 63-50 win over Saginaw Valley State on Thursday evening.

The sophomore guard pumped in a game-high 21 points, making 8 of 12 shots from the field including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, as the Wildcats improved to 17-7 overall and 11-4 in the GLIAC. SVSU fell to 9-17 and 6-10, seventh place in the league.

NMU not only cemented its position in third place, but moved within a game of second-place Ferris State (12-3), which got bamboozled at league leader Grand Valley State, 63-38, also Thursday. Northern kept a two-game edge on fourth-place Michigan Tech (9-6), while former fourth-place Wayne State (9-7) slipped a spot after falling to the Huskies 95-75 on Thursday.

It also marked the Wildcats’ first 11-win GLIAC campaign since the 2018-19 season, according to a game report from NMU Sports Information.

With three games remaining in the regular season, Northern can clinch a top-four conference finish that translates into home court for the first-round quarterfinals of the GLIAC Tournament with a win at Wayne State at 1 p.m. today.

On Thursday, Weisbrod reached 20 points for the fourth time this season and made at least five triples in a game for the fifth time.

She led NMU to its fast start, scoring 18 of her points in the first half, when she made 7 of 9 shots.

Assisting Weisbrod was GLIAC leading scorer Makaylee Kuhn, whose 18 points was about a half-point higher than her average. She made 8 of 14 from the field along with 2 of 2 free throws, adding a game-high 10 rebounds and three steals and sharing the team high of two assists.

Teammate Abi Fraaza added nine points, hitting 3 of 4 shots from the field and all three of her free throws, then adding in five rebounds, two blocked shots and no turnovers in 19 minutes court time.

SVSU was led by Victoria Stafford with 17 points as teammate Jessica Massey had 12.

Even though Weisbrod hit a jump shot in the game’s opening 25 seconds, the Cardinals took their only lead of the day less than a minute into the game when Stafford connected on a triple for a 3-2 lead.

After that, it was just about all NMU as the Wildcats built a 14-5 lead with 3:36 left in the first quarter after Weisbrod’s first 3.

Ahead 18-11 at the end of the period, Northern needed not quite six minutes of the second quarter to reach a double-digit lead of 27-16 on a Kuhn short jumper 4:12 before halftime.

The lead remained in double digits for the rest of the game, including 35-17 at halftime. The Wildcats’ largest lead came about four minutes into the second half after Kayla Tierney nailed a triple for a 47-22 advantage.

The Cardinals never got closer than the final score’s difference, 13 points, throughout the second half.

While most statistics were fairly close, NMU had a decided shooting advantage, making exactly 50% (24 of 48) to just 36% (18 of 50) for SVSU. The Cards held one stat advantage, holding a 12-7 edge in steals, though both teams committed 17 turnovers.

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