Northern Michigan University’s Faith Walder, right, begins her drive to the basket while defended by Minnesota-Duluth's Maria Counts during their game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Nov. 21. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The women’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University got into a defensive slugfest against Wisconsin-Parkside, but the Wildcats again emerged victorious 56-48 in their opener in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The shooting was nothing to write home about, unless you’re the proud parent of a defensive specialist. Each team made just barely more than a third of their shots, and NMU was especially chilly on long-range 3-pointers, making just 2 of 23 (8.7%).

Parkside wasn’t a whole lot better on the triples, hitting 5 of 23 (21.7%).

But it was enough for Northern, the No. 17 team in the nation this week, to improve to 9-1 overall as the Rangers slipped to 4-4.

Faith Walder came off the bench to lead NMU scorers with 12 points as she hit 5 of 6 shots, all from 2-point range, along with both her free throws in just 12 minutes of action.

Sarah Newcomer and Negaunee product Alyssa Hill added 11 points apiece, Hill also grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds and not making a turnover in 19 minutes court time. Newcomer had five rebounds.

The next highest scoring Wildcat was Jacy Weisbrod with six points as she missed all six of her 3-point tries, though she did pull down five rebounds.

Parkside’s Katie Hamill led all scorers with 15 points as she hit a trio of triples and made four steals.

NMU grabbed a quick advantage and led for almost all of the first quarter, including 22-17 when the period ended.

The Rangers grabbed their first lead, 23-22, on a Hamill triple just over three minutes into the second quarter. While the Wildcats led for most of this quarter, too, Parkside’s Lillie Petersen hit a 3 with 41 seconds left to give the home team a 31-30 edge at halftime.

A nip-and-tuck third quarter featured five ties, the last 40-40 after Hill made a layup with 1:26 left in the period.

Walder added a pair of free throws with 1:01 to go to give Northern a 42-40 advantage headed into the fourth.

And after one last tie at 44-44, NMU retook the lead for good with 8:03 left when Newcomer made a jumper.

The Wildcats’ lead expanded to eight points twice, the first time at 54-46 with 1:13 left on an Addison Pytleski jumper, and the second time for the final margin when CJ Romero made a free throw with 25 seconds remaining.

NMU remains south of home near Lake Michigan when it travels to Chicago to take on Roosevelt at 2 p.m. EST today. This game will be broadcast on Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point as the men’s game that follows will be on WUPZ 94.9 FM The Bay.

The Wildcats have one more game before Christmas, a home game against nonconference Northwood on Dec. 17, then resume GLIAC action on Jan. 1 at home vs. Davenport. Both those games are 5:30 p.m. tipoffs at Vandament Arena.

NMU 56, Wis.-Parkside 48

Thursday at Kenosha, Wis.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Newcomer 5-0-11, Hill 4-3-11, Weisbrod 3-0-6, Romero 1-2-5, Pytleski 1-0-2, Walder 5-2-12, Whitehouse 2-1-5, Osterman 1-0-2, Schroeder 1-0-2. Totals 23-8-56.

WISCONSIN-PARKSIDE — Hamill 6-0-15, Arni 5-1-11, Petersen 3-0-7, Nelson 3-0-6, Bugajski 1-0-3, Hampel 1-2-4, Derlein 1-0-2. Totals 20-3-48.

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 22 8 12 14 — 56

Wisconsin-Parkside 17 14 9 8 — 48

FG shooting: NMU 23 of 67 (34.3 percent), Wis.-Parkside 20 of 59 (33.9 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 2 of 23 (8.7 percent), Wis.-Parkside 5 of 23 (21.7 percent); FT shooting: NMU 8 of 11 (72.7 percent), Wis.-Parkside 3 of 7 (42.9 percent); Rebounding, NMU 46 (Alyssa Hill 12), Wis.-Parkside 38 (Cassidy Arni 9); Assists, NMU 5 (CJ Romero 3), Wis.-Parkside 12 (Peighton Nelson 4); Steals, NMU 2 (Addison Pytleski and Faith Walder 1 each), Wis.-Parkside 6 (Katie Hamill 4); Turnovers, NMU 10, Wis.-Parkside 12.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.