• Jacy Weisbrod ties Wildcats’ women’s record with nine 3-pointers in Friday’s 69-56 win

• Makaylee Kuhn eclipses 2,000-point mark at 2,005 total points with 21 points in 2 games over the weekend as she already had Northern’s scoring record

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ALLENDALE — The big roadblock known as Grand Valley State did more than trip up the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team on Saturday — the Lakers slammed the Wildcats right back to Marquette.

Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod runs downcourt during her record-tying performance against Kentucky Wesleyan in their NCAA Division II Midwest Region tournament game played in downstate Allendale on Friday. (Photos courtesy NMU)

GVSU made its case as a favorite to win the national title after dispatching NMU 72-44 on Saturday evening to advance to the championship game of the NCAA Division II Midwest Region tournament it is hosting.

That game will be held tonight against Ferris State, which defeated the country’s No. 1 team, Ashland, 64-59, in the other regional semifinal on Saturday.

Northern got to its position in the semifinals by fending off Kentucky Wesleyan 69-56 in the tournament’s opening-round quarterfinals on Friday night.

The Wildcats, GVSU and Ferris are all members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, showing just how strong this league is in its region and probably the whole country. The other five teams in the Midwest Region tourney came from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Grand Valley improved to 31-2 this season — its third straight 30-win campaign — after entering the NCAA tourney as No. 2 in the nation. Now that No. 1 Ashland is out of the way, a victory over Ferris would vault the Lakers into the probable favorite’s role at the national Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Missouri, to be held next week.

Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod, center, is double teamed by Wayne State's McKenna Ferguson, left, and Becca Fugate during the first quarter of their GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal women’s basketball game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on March 6. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

GVSU’s current 16-game winning streak includes three victories over NMU in their past seven games and four wins overall this season. The Lakers scored a 17-point win in Allendale before the streak began on Jan. 6, another late regular-season 74-67 win in overtime in Marquette on Feb. 29, a 67-48 victory in the GLIAC Tournament championship game in Allendale on March 10, and Saturday’s victory.

Those account for almost half of the Wildcats’ losses this season as they finish with a 22-10 record, which included a 13-5 mark and third-place finish in the GLIAC.

GVSU, in its ninth straight season in the NCAA tourney, earned the Midwest Region’s No. 1 seed, while Ashland was No. 2, Ferris No. 3, NMU No. 4 and Kentucky Wesleyan No. 5.

Here are details of each NMU game at the regional:

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NMU 69, Kentucky Wesleyan 56

On Friday night, Jacy Weisbrod scored a career-high 29 points while tying the Northern program record for 3-pointers made in a single game with nine. The mark had previously been set in 1993 by Amy Boynton against Michigan Tech and met in 2004 by Holly Cole vs. Nebraska-Kearney.

Weisbrod’s 9-of-14 performance was impressive even for the player who far and away led the GLIAC in made 3-pointers during the season. Weisbrod’s 92 triples were three dozen more than any other conference player even while she posted the conference’s second-best shooting percentage on those shots of 42.4%.

Her nine 3s was also the third-best performance in a game in all of NCAA Division II this season.

“I don’t get 14 threes off without my teammates,” Weisbrod said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing the game. “I’m just really happy and I give all credit to my teammates getting me the ball.”

Making 64.3% on her 3s, overall she was 10 of 17 from the field while not getting a chance to shoot a free throw. She also had three rebounds and committed just one turnover in 30 minutes court time.

Abi Fraaza came off the NMU bench to score 16 points, making 7 of 10 shots while adding nine rebounds, and was the only other Wildcat to score in double figures.

GLIAC scoring champion Makaylee Kuhn contributed nine points, hitting a 3, and pulled down eight rebounds.

But Northern’s dominant rebounding performance was led by Ana Rhude with 11 caroms to go with five points.

As a team, NMU outrebound Kentucky Wesleyan better than 2-to-1, grabbing 46 to KWC’s 22.

“I’m really proud of our battle for all 40 minutes,” Wildcats head coach Casey Thousand told NMU SI. “We came out ready to go and our defense and rebounding was phenomenal. The energy and adrenaline was postive and it was a really good day for us.”

In Northern’s first NCAA tournament game in five years, Weisbrod needed just 10 seconds to make her first 3 before she connected on two more spaced 34 seconds apart later in the first quarter for three in the first 10 minutes.

She added one triple in the second quarter, four more in the third and one last one in the fourth.

After NMU built leads of 18-7 after one quarter and 36-19 at halftime, Weisbrod’s prolific third quarter might’ve been the most important considering that the Panthers still managed to cut into Northern’s lead and trailed 55-40 entering the fourth.

Take her 12 points on 3s away from the third quarter and NMU instead would’ve instead had a three-point lead heading into the final period.

Despite Weisbrod’s early heroics, the Wildcats fell behind 6-5 in the middle of the opening quarter before Weisbrod led them on a 13-1 flourish to end the period. Fraaza made two layups and a free throw in the streak, while Mackenzie Holzwart hit both her free throws then, too.

Northern kept a double-digit lead for almost the entire second quarter, getting it up to 18 points twice, the first time at 34-16 on a Weisbrod triple before settling for a 17-point bulge at intermission.

With Weisbrod soaring after she made four triples in the first 5:04 of the third, NMU pushed its advantage to 25 points, 53-28. But Northern needed that margin as the Panthers (21-7) outscored Northern 12-2 over the rest of period to get within 15 entering the final stanza.

However, Weisbrod had one more trey in her holster and she fired it off 1:19 into the fourth to regain a 58-40 lead for her Wildcats. Kentucky Wesleyan never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

The Panthers probably had to stand in awe of Weisbrod as they managed to make just 3 of 25 on their 3-point attempts, a paltry 12% clip.

Sydnee Richetto led KWC with 13 points while Jordyn Barga had 11.

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Grand Valley State

72, NMU 44

On Saturday night, the Lakers put a 28-point pounding on NMU, the exact margin of their Friday 63-35 win over opening opponent Trebecca Nazarene.

Grand Valley went to its strength, controlling the paint for a 48-20 scoring advantage down low — that’s an identical 28-point margin to the final score.

The Lakers held a 39-27 rebounding advantage and outshot the Wildcats by about 20% from the field, 32.1% for NMU (17 of 53) to 52.8% for GVSU (28 of 53).

Kuhn led Northern with 12 points while Weisbrod had just five, making 1 of 4 on 3s as the Wildcats were just 4 of 11 from long range overall.

Holzwart added seven points, making all three of her free-throw attempts, while Rhude had six points and a game-high eight rebounds as Fraaza had five points and six rebounds.

Kuhn finished her historic career at NMU by breaking the 2,000-point barrier at 2,005 after scoring 21 points over the weekend.

Escanaba High School graduate and GVSU sophomore Nicole Kamin led all players with 20 points as she also blocked three shots, while teammate Rylie Bisballe had 19 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Paige Vanstee added 11 points.

The Wildcats had several early leads, their last at 7-6 with 6:04 left in the first quarter after a Kuhn jumper.

Leading 14-9 after one period, the Lakers quickly built their advantage to double digits, though NMU got it back to nine, 31-22, with 18 seconds left before halftime on another Kuhn jumper.

With a 33-22 lead at halftime, GVSU slowly increased its edge twice to 18 points in the third, the final time at 52-34 before Kuhn made a jumper and Holzwart a traditional three-point play in the final minute to pull Northern within 13, 52-39, entering the fourth.

But the Wildcats wouldn’t get any closer than that in the fourth as the Lakers held NMU scoreless for the first six minutes of the final period to expand their lead to 25 points, 64-39.

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

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