Northern Michigan University’s Alyssa Hill, left, looks for the basket before she goes up for a shot during a GLIAC game played against Lake Superior State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Feb. 7. Hill is a Negaunee High School graduate. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

HAMMOND, Ind. — The women’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University remained in a close fourth place in the conference with an 82-57 victory at Purdue Northwest on Saturday afternoon.

The national No. 12 Wildcats are now 21-5 overall and 12-4 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, one loss behind third-place Wayne State, two losses behind second-place Ferris State and three losses within league leader Grand Valley State.

NMU faces its closest pursuer, Michigan Tech, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Vandament Arena in Marquette. The Huskies, though, are three games back of the Wildcats at 15-9 overall and 9-7 in GLIAC games.

On Saturday, Northern got off to a bit of a slow start, leading by just one point after one quarter before opening up a nine-point lead by halftime.

Negaunee High School graduate Alyssa Hill scored a game-high 19 points, also matching her highest total in two seasons with the Wildcats. She made 8 of 11 from the field, all 2-pointers, adding 3 of 3 free throws to go with five rebounds in just 19 minutes court time.

Teammate Jacy Weisbrod assisted with 12 points, all on 4-of-8 shooting on 3-pointers, while Sarah Newcomer and Jordyn Schmittdiel each pumped in 10 points.

Newcomer hit a pair of 3s and made three steals, while Schmittdiel, the rebounding machine that she is, pulled in a team-high seven boards and blocked three shots despite playing just 13 minutes. Her blocks were not only more than every other player on the court, no one on either team even had one block.

Also for the Wildcats, Addison Pytleski scored nine points with three rebounds while Faith Walder had eight points, making 4 of 4 from the field. Teammate CJ Romero only scored two points, but more than doubled any other player by dishing out seven assists.

Alyssa Cole paced the Pride (3-21, 1-15 GLIAC) with 18 points.

NMU had statistical advantages in just about every category, though the one that seems to stick out most was fewer turnovers, 15-4, with the aid of nine steals.

Though Northern jumped out quickly to a 13-4 lead barely three minutes in after Weisbrod’s second 3, Purdue NW chipped away to get back within 18-17 at the end of the opening quarter.

In a seesaw second period, Northern reopened a 27-19 advantage with 8:11 left after a Hill layup, only to see the Pride get back within two points twice, the last time 29-27 with 4:51 left before halftime.

But the Wildcats finished the half on 9-2 run to go ahead 38-29 at the break.

NMU really started to put its stamp on the game late in the third quarter, taking a double-digit lead for good, 55-44, with 2:26 left following a Sydney Whitehouse layup.

The quarter ended with a 14-point margin, 60-46, and only expanded from there. Northern’s biggest lead was its final one, 25 points, when Walder made a layup with 44 seconds remaining.

NMU 82, Purdue NW 57

Saturday at Hammond, Ind.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Hill 8-3-19, Weisbrod 4-0-12, Newcomer 3-2-10, Pytleski 4-0-9, Romero 1-0-2, Schmittdiel 5-0-10, Walder 4-0-8, Osterman 1-2-4, Whitehouse 2-0-4, Schroeder 2-0-4. Totals 34-7-82.

PURDUE NORTHWEST — Cole 7-3-18, Milausnic 3-0-7, Sims 2-0-5, Phillips 1-0-2, Strahan 1-0-2, Clayton 3-2-8, Spellman 3-0-6, Remmel 1-2-5, Luse 1-0-2, Leonard 1-0-2. Totals 23-7-57.

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 18 20 22 22 — 82

Purdue Northwest 17 12 17 11 — 57

FG shooting: NMU 34 of 71 (47.9 percent), Purdue NW 23 of 54 (42.6 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 7 of 20 (35 percent), Purdue NW 4 of 16 (25 percent); FT shooting: NMU 7 of 11 (63.6 percent), Purdue NW 7 of 7 (100 percent); Rebounding, NMU 40 (Jordyn Schmittdiel 7), Purdue NW 31 (Caley Strahan 8); Assists, NMU 19 (CJ Romero 7), Purdue NW 10 (Cameryn Phillips 3); Steals, NMU 9 (Sarah Newcomer 3), Purdue NW 1 (Alyssa Cole 1); Turnovers, NMU 4, Purdue NW 15.

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