Northern Michigan University’s CJ Romero, center, gets double teamed by Wayne State's Becca Fugate, left, and Taylor Thompson and gets fouled on her way to the basket during their GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal women’s basketball game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Their dancing shoes have been collecting some dust after sitting in the closet for the last five years, the most recent time the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team appeared in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

The Wildcats (21-9) have earned their way into the “big dance” of 64 teams this weekend by finishing in third place during the GLIAC regular season, then making it all the way to the conference tournament championship game before falling to national No. 2 Grand Valley State on Sunday in Allendale.

NMU’s reward for making it this far is joining what is possibly the toughest of the eight regions in the national tournament, the Midwest Region being held again in Allendale.

Not only are the nation’s second-ranked Lakers (29-2) hosting this region as the No. 1 seed, but national No. 1 Ashland (30-1) got stuck with the No. 2 seed there. In addition, region No. 3 seed Ferris State (22-5) is ranked 14th nationally.

This all came about because the NCAA places teams into regions based on geography, with the Midwest Region including teams from the GLIAC, Great Midwest Athletic Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference, which includes schools in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

As the No. 4 seed in the region, Northern opens against No. 5 Kentucky Wesleyan of Owensboro, Kentucky.

They play the final game of the Midwest Region’s opening day at 7:30 p.m. Friday, immediately after Grand Valley takes on No. 8 Trevecca Nazarene at 5 p.m.

The other half of the bracket begins the day with No. 3 Ferris taking on No. 6 Lewis at noon, and No. 2 Ashland facing No. 7 Drury at 2:30 p.m.

NMU, Grand Valley and Ferris are GLIAC members; Kentucky Wesleyan, Ashland and Trevecca Nazarene are from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference; and Lewis and Drury hail from the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

If the Wildcats advance, they’ll face either regional host Grand Valley State — or maybe just as tough, the team that knocks them off, Trevecca Nazarene of Nashville, Tennessee.

That second-round game will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, right after the 5 p.m. contest between the survivors in the other half of the bracket. Teams will take a day off so they don’t have to play three consecutive days with the regional championship set for 7 p.m. Monday.

All NMU games will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, except for the Saturday women’s contest, which instead will be on WUPZ 94.9 FM The Bay since it would be held at the same time as the NCAA D-II tourney opening game for the Northern men.

Fans can follow @NMU_WBBall and on X (formerly Twitter) and @nmu_wbball on Instagram for updates leading up to and during the tournament, or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s basketball schedule for links to a tournament page, the teams’ history and a preview, ticket information and live statistics, video and audio.

In Northern’s last appearance in the NCAA tournament, 2019, the Wildcats defeated Ashland in the opening round before falling to Drury in the round of 32.

“It’s going to be different being in the NCAA Tournament,” Northern head coach Casey Thousand said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the weekend. “It’s a fun experience; this is what it’s all about, and I told our team to enjoy the ride.”

The Wildcats earned their way into the nationals by compiling a 13-5 third-place record during the GLIAC regular season, then battling through No. 6 seed Wayne State 51-48 in the conference tourney quarterfinals, then beating No. 2 seed Ferris 63-56 in the semifinals before falling to Grand Valley 67-48 in the title tilt.

In the finale, the Lakers outrebounded NMU 42-23 and thus outscored the Wildcats 15-2 in second-chance points. Makaylee Kuhn, who had previously been named All-GLIAC First Team for the fourth straight season, was also named to the all-tournament team.

Like Northern, Kentucky Wesleyan enters the NCAA tournament with 21 wins, though three fewer losses at 21-6 as the Panthers average 74.0 points per game, 28th nationally. KWC is also top 30 in the country with its 44.4% field goal percentage, a 34.5% 3-point percentage, 8.0 triples per game, plus-7.3 turnover margin and 21.5 turnovers forced per game.

Emmy Ralph leads the Panthers’ balanced scoring attack at 11.4 ppg, while Jordyn Barga and Corina Conley each average 11.1 ppg, Shaylee McDonald 10.2 ppg, Sydnee Richetto 9.2 ppg and Shiya Hoosier 7.0 ppg.

Barga averages 7.3 rebounds per game, while a half-dozen KWC players have made at least 24 triples.

The Panthers lost in the GMAC Tournament quarterfinals to Malone, 68-62, though they won 10 of 11 to end the regular season.

As far as common opponents, both NMU and KW lost to Ashland during the season, though both also defeated ex-GLIAC and now G-MAC member Northwood.

Here are some other facts about the Northern women as gleaned by NMU SI:

• Averaging a GLIAC second-highest 17.1 ppg, Kuhn has an NMU record 1,984 career points after scoring in double figures in all but three games this season and making 83.3% (125 of 150) on her free throws.

• Sophomore guard Jacy Weisbrod was named a week ago to the All-GLIAC Second Team as she averages 12.4 ppg. She was far and away the GLIAC leader in made 3-pointers, connecting on 82 (out of 199 for 41.2%). Weisbrod is 14th nationally in made 3s and 17th in 3s per game at 2.83. She has made at least one in all 29 of her games this season, made multiple triples in 24 games, and sank at least five 3s in a game a half-dozen times.

• The Wildcats’ other senior, Ana Rhude, has been a force in the paint, making 44 blocked shots. Over the last five games, she is averaging a big 3.2 blocks a game as she recently became NMU’s all-time career blocks leader with 139.

• Northern takes care of the ball as well as any team, with its 12.0 turnovers per game third best in the country. The Wildcats are also 34th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.04, and 35th in rebound margin at plus-5.6.

• After struggling from the 3-point line a season ago, when the Wildcats made just 26.7% (121 of 454), Northern has made tremendous strides, hitting 33.0% this season on 217 of 658.

• Nine Wildcats players have recorded at least one double-digit scoring game this season.

• In two seasons under Thousand, NMU has placed in the top four in the league each year, which led to hosting a GLIAC Tournament game in each season as the Wildcats have an overall record of 36-22 (.621).

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