Northern Michigan University’s Faith Walder, center, gets off a pass while double teamed during a GLIAC women’s basketball game played against Roosevelt at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The women’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University took care of business early and ran over Roosevelt 89-58 on Thursday evening at Vandament Arena.

The national No. 22 Wildcats improved to 23-6 overall and 14-5 in the conference by racing out to a 16-point lead after one quarter and extending it to 36 by halftime. That big advantage allowed Northern to withstand a 16-0 barrage by the Lakers to start the second half.

NMU is now locked into fourth place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after third-place Wayne State also won Thursday, 98-61 over Lake Superior State.

Northern trails the Warriors (16-3 GLIAC) by two games and is ahead of fifth-place Michigan Tech and Wisconsin-Parkside (each 9-10) by five games with only a home game against Parkside left in the regular season at 1 p.m. today.

NMU will face either Tech or Parkside in the No. 4-No. 5 matchup of the first-round quarterfinals in the GLIAC Tournament scheduled for Wednesday in Marquette.

Against Roosevelt, Northern blistered the nets to the tune of 55% (37 of 67) overall from the field and making exactly half its 3-point shots, 11 of 22.

The Lakers (8-18, 7-12 GLIAC) didn’t shoot anywhere near that well, making 34% overall (17 of 50) and 37% from 3 (7 of 19).

And the Wildcats also had a huge 43-25 advantage in rebounds, led by Sydney Whitehouse with nine caroms as she also scored 13 points and dished out five assists.

As she is accustomed to doing, NMU’s Jacy Weisbrod led all scorers with 23 points, making 5 of 10 triples and 9 of 16 overall from the field, then adding five rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Teammate Addison Pytleski contributed 14 points, hitting 3 of 4 treys, while making five rebounds and not committing a turnover in 26 minutes court time.

And Northern’s Madison Schroeder scored 12 points, making her only 3-point try and her only free throw attempt.

The Wildcats’ Alyssa Hill, a Negaunee High School graduate, and Sarah Newcomer each scored eight points and made three assists, Hill getting five rebounds and Newcomer four.

Meanwhile, NMU’s CJ Romero dished out a game-high nine assists even while not scoring a point, in fact, not even attempting a shot, whether of the 1-point, 2-point or 3-point variety.

And rebound savant Jordyn Schmittdiel grabbed five boards, made three steals and dished out three assists while scoring four points in just 17 minutes.

Isabella Pitta paced Roosevelt with 15 points.

The Lakers were still within a single possession almost halfway through the opening quarter, trailing 11-8 after the visitors’ Aubrey Leonard hit a 3.

But the Wildcats finished the period on a 17-4 run to assume a 28-12 lead headed to the second quarter. In that extended run, Weisbrod hit a pair of 3s and a layup, while Pytleski had a triple and layup.

Northern took its first 20-point lead, 33-13, just 1:24 into the second period on a Weisbrod jumper, part of a 17-1 spurt to begin the quarter that produced a 32-point lead, 45-13, with 5:29 left in the first half.

Despite NMU building a 56-20 advantage at halftime, Roosevelt bounced back to score the first 16 points of the second half, whittling its deficit to 56-36 before Pytleski made a layup with 3:26 left in the third to finally break the scoreless drought.

The Wildcats kept a relatively comfortable 66-43 lead headed to the final period and never let the Lakers get closer than 20 the rest of the way.

NMU 89, Roosevelt 58

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

ROOSEVELT — Pitta 6-3-15, Katcher 2-6-11, Boyle 2-4-8, Lindo 2-3-8, Outlay 1-0-3, Leonard 4-1-13. Totals 17-17-58.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Weisbrod 9-0-23, Pytleski 5-1-14, Newcomer 3-1-8, Hill 4-0-8, Whitehouse 6-0-13, Schroder 5-1-12, Walder 3-1-7, Schmittdiel 2-0-4. Totals 37-4-89.

Score by quarters:

Roosevelt 12 8 23 15 — 58

Northern Michigan 28 28 10 23 — 89

FG shooting: Roosevelt 17 of 50 (34 percent), NMU 37 of 67 (55.2 percent); 3-point shooting: Roosevelt 7 of 19 (36.8 percent), NMU 11 of 22 (50 percent); FT shooting: Roosevelt 17 of 25 (68 percent), NMU 4 of 7 (57.1 percent); Rebounding, Roosevelt 25 (Brynne Katcher 8), NMU 43 (Sydney Whitehouse 9); Assists, Roosevelt 12 (Kelly Boyle 3), NMU 26 (CJ Romero 9); Steals, Roosevelt 8 (Katcher 3), NMU 9 (Jordyn Schmitdiel 3); Turnovers, Roosevelt 14, NMU 14.

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.