Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod, right, takes a 3-point shot during a GLIAC game played against Davenport at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Jan. 3. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

UNIVERSITY CENTER — The women’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University finished off a sweep of a conference road trip with a victory at Saginaw Valley State on Saturday afternoon.

The national No. 13 Wildcats won 67-51 to improve to 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

NMU remained in fourth place in the league behind front-running and national No. 1 Grand Valley State at 7-0 in conference games and one loss behind second-place Wayne State and third-place Ferris State.

Saginaw Valley slipped to 4-12 and 2-6 in the GLIAC, tied for the eighth and final spot in the end-of-season GLIAC Tournament to be held in early March.

Northern’s Jacy Weisbrod led all scorers with 21 points by getting back to her accustomed form on 3-pointers, hitting 5 of 7 on those long-range shots and 8 of 14 overall from the field, even while not attempting a single free throw. She added in three steals and three rebounds while committing just one turnover and one foul in 33 minutes court time.

Teammate Addison Pytleski added 12 points, hitting a pair of triples, while NMU’s Alyssa Hill and Jordyn Schmittdiel grabbed 10 rebounds apiece to lead the Wildcats’ dominant 41-29 edge on the boards. Hill, a Negaunee High School graduate, scored four points and Schmittdiel had five.

Northern’s Sarah Newcomer, who hit a trio of treys, and CJ Romero, who led NMU with five assists, added nine points each.

Lydia Meredith paced SVSU with 12 points.

In addition to rebounding, the Wildcats also held a decisive edge in turnovers, committing 13 to the Cardinals’ 23, much of that due to Northern’s 13 steals as not only Weisbrod had three swipes, but so did Romero and Sydney Whitehouse.

On Saturday, NMU needed just over three minutes to take the lead for good when Weisbrod hit a jumper for a 4-3 advantage. The Wildcats quickly bumped their edge to double digits, 15-5, with 1:20 left in the opening quarter after a Whitehouse free throw.

Saginaw Valley still trailed 18-8 at the end of the quarter as Northern built a lead of as many as 14 points, 24-10, about a minute into the second after a Pytleski 3.

But SVSU fought back to keep its deficit in single digits, getting to within 32-27 at halftime.

Then NMU had a big spurt in the latter stages of the third quarter to all but put the game out of reach. With Weisbrod scoring 13 of her points in this period, the Wildcats in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter went on a 12-0 run to go up 55-38 entering the fourth.

They weren’t really challenged in the final 10 minutes, twice increasing the lead to 21, the final time 62-41 with 5:48 left on a Romero layup.

Northern returns home for a pair of GLIAC games this week against teams at both ends of the standings. The Wildcats host last-place Purdue Northwest (1-7 GLIAC) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday before taking on second-place Wayne State (7-1 GLIAC) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NMU 67, Saginaw Valley St. 51

Saturday at University Center

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Weisbrod 8-0-21, Pytleski 4-2-12, Newcomer 3-0-9, Romero 3-3-9, Hill 2-0-4, Whitehouse 2-3-7, Schmittdiel 1-3-5. Totals 23-11-67.

SAGINAW VALLEY STATE — Lydia Meredith 4-2-12, Borsenik 5-0-11, Geurink 3-4-10, McCalla 2-2-7, Laynie Meredith 2-0-6, Dziezgowski 1-0-3, Bush 1-0-2. Totals 18-8-51.

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 18 14 23 12 — 67

Saginaw Valley St. 8 19 11 13 — 51

FG shooting: NMU 23 of 61 (37.7 percent), Saginaw Valley State 18 of 48 (37.5 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 10 of 20 (50 percent), Saginaw Valley State 7 of 14 (50 percent); FT shooting: NMU 11 of 15 (73.3 percent), Saginaw Valley State 8 of 10 (80 percent); Rebounding, NMU 41 (Alyssa Hill and Jordyn Schmittdiel 10 each), Saginaw Valley State 29 (Lydia Meredith 6); Assists, NMU 11 (CJ Romero 5), Saginaw Valley State 9 (Lydia Meredith 5); Steals, NMU 13 (3 players with 3 each), Saginaw Valley State 7 (Lydia Meredith 3); Turnovers, NMU 13, Saginaw Valley State 23.

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.