The Wildcats ran away and hid early for a 74-46 victory as NMU senior Sarah Newcomer scored a career-high 27 points, getting all but three of those points by the midpoint of the third quarter.

Late in the first half, Northern senior Alyssa Hill, a Negaunee High School graduate, scored her 1,000th career collegiate point on a hook shot in the paint as she finished with 16 points after going a perfect 7 of 7 from the field.

Hill, who played her first two college seasons at Bemidji State before transferring closer to home in 2024, also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while not committing a turnover in 20 minutes court time.

Offense and defense combined nicely for the Wildcats, who not only built a 24-point halftime lead, but corralled Tech so that it was unable to score more than 10 points in any of the first three quarters.

Northern Michigan University’s Alyssa Hill, left, goes up for a shot while being defended by Michigan Tech’s Ella Mason, front right, during their GLIAC game played in Houghton on Thursday. Both these players are Negaunee High School graduates, while late in the first half, Hill scored her 1,000th career collegiate point. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The win allowed NMU to move into a second-place tie in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. That happened when the former coleaders tangled on Thursday, with national No. 1 Grand Valley State emerging with a narrow 81-80 home victory over Wayne State in Allendale.

Northern (10-2) is 4-1 in conference games, now tied with WSU and a game behind 5-0 GVSU, which is also 13-0 overall. NMU is also nationally ranked at No. 14 this week.

Tech, meanwhile, had been tied with the Wildcats but slipped into fifth place at 3-2 in the GLIAC, 9-4 overall.

Newcomer made her mark from long range, something teammate Jacy Weisbrod has been known to do throughout the past several seasons. In fact, several quality teams have held Weisbrod down in her shooting, probably draping her with multiple defenders knowing the damage she can do on the scoreboard as she only had three points on this day.

Newcomer sank 7 of 13 from 3-point range and 10 of 16 overall, adding in three assists.

NMU’s CJ Romero, a force as a passer this year, put in 13 points while still able to dish out a game-high five assists and also grabbing five rebounds.

With no Tech player scoring in double figures, the Huskies’ high scorer was Alyssa Wypych with nine points. Two more Negaunee products, Ella Mason and Aubrey Johnson, also reached the scoring column with Mason getting six points and Johnson three. Mason also shared team rebounding honors with three.

The Wildcats not only shot better, but also held a big 44-25 rebounding edge. NMU made right around 43% on both 3s and all shots from the field, while the Huskies hit a paltry 9% (1 of 11) on triples and 31% overall from the floor.

With Newcomer bombing in 3s from all over, she scored 19 of her team’s first 30 points. That helped Northern establish a lead of 11-2 before the game was three minutes old and 19-10 at the end of the first quarter. Newcomer scored eight of the 11 points in the early run and 11 altogether in the opening period.

The Wildcats’ lead quickly reached double digits, 21-10, only nine seconds into the second quarter on a Newcomer jumper, then got to 20 when

Romero hit a pair of free throws with 4:43 left in the first half that made it 35-14.

Up 44-20 at halftime, Northern’s zenith was a 36-point lead, 64-28, when Romero made another pair of free throws with 32 seconds left in the third.

NMU head coach Casey Thousand was satisfied keeping her team’s lead in the 30s for almost all the final period.

While the Wildcats get a three-day weekend off, at least from playing, they’ll be back on the court for a 5:30 p.m. Monday game at Vandament Arena to host Ferris State (10-3), which is in fourth place in the GLIAC at 3-1.

NMU 74, Michigan Tech 46

Thursday at Houghton

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Newcomer 10-0-27, Hill 7-2-16, Romero 3-4-13, Pytleski 1-1-4, Weisbrod 1-0-3, Whitehouse 1-2-4, Walder 2-0-4, Schmittdiel 0-2-2, Schroeder 0-1-1. Totals 25-12-74.

MICHIGAN TECH — Wypych 3-3-9, Tormanen 4-0-8, Standfest 1-3-6, Mason 2-2-6, Nuest 3-1-7, Kozlowska 2-1-5, Johnson 1-1-3, Mislivecek 0-2-2. Totals 16-13-46.

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 19 25 20 10 — 74

Michigan Tech 10 10 10 16 — 46

FG shooting: NMU 25 of 57 (43.9 percent), Michigan Tech 16 of 51 (31.4 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 12 of 28 (42.9 percent), Michigan Tech 1 of 11 (9.1 percent); FT shooting: NMU 12 of 16 (75 percent), Michigan Tech 13 of 18 (72.2 percent); Rebounding, NMU 44 (Alyssa Hill 8), Michigan Tech 25 (5 players with 3 each); Assists, NMU 13 (CJ Romero 5), Michigan Tech 6 (Soraya Timms 3); Steals, NMU 8 (Faith Walder 3), Michigan Tech 6 (Dani Nuest 2); Turnovers, NMU 16, Michigan Tech 15.

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.