Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod drives to the hoop and would make a basket while defended by Saginaw Valley State’s Lydia Meredith during their GLIAC women’s basketball game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — A fast start and balanced scoring brought the women’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University another victory at Vandament Arena on Thursday night, an 80-69 decision over Saginaw Valley State.

The Wildcats remain in a tie for third place at 10-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. With their sixth win in seven games, they’re getting nearer to locking up first-round home court that goes to the league’s top four teams when the GLIAC Tournament gets underway in early March.

NMU is three ahead in the loss column over the next team in the standings, Michigan Tech.

Northern, which is tied in the GLIAC with Wayne State, sports a 19-4 overall record and No. 14 ranking in NCAA Division II. That pair of squads is a half-game behind second-place Ferris State (10-2), which as the odd team in the conference this season, plays its league games mostly on Saturdays and Mondays.

They all trail national No. 1 Grand Valley State, which is still undefeated this season at 13-0 in league and 21-0 overall.

On Thursday, the Wildcats needed barely more than a full quarter to build its first double-digit lead, 29-18 with 9:35 left in the second period on an Addison Pytleski 3-pointer.

The Cardinals (5-16, 3-10 GLIAC) fought back to within a single score, 33-30 with 6:07 left in the quarter on a Lydia Meredith layup. But immediately after that, NMU raced away for the remainder of the first half, outscoring their guests 18-5 through until intermission to take a 51-35 advantage at the break.

The first half included 10 made 3-pointers by Northern.

SVSU again fought back to get within single digits during the third quarter, getting as close as six points, 58-52, before the Wildcats again closed the quarter with a flourish, scoring the final seven points to make it 65-52 entering the final period.

The Cardinals got back within seven, 71-64 with 2:51 left, before Northern finished it out with the double-digit victory.

Jacy Weisbrod, who in Northern’s previous game set the program career 3-pointer record at 248, added three more Thursday for a game-high 19 points.

She was joined by two teammates scoring in double figures and three more scoring between seven and nine points.

Pytleski had 16 points, hitting 4 of 5 triples while also not committing a turnover in 27 minutes court time, while Sydney Whitehouse added 13 points to go with five rebounds.

Additionally, Sarah Newcomer pumped in nine points, all on a trio of treys, while Negaunee product Alyssa Hill had eight points and CJ Romero seven. Hill also grabbed six rebounds while Romero dished out seven assists.

Teammate Jordyn Schmittdiel, who has become an efficient rebounding machine, did so again, pulling down a team-high seven boards in just 20 minutes while scoring three points.

Megan McCalla paced SVSU with 16 points.

While both teams shot solidly from the field, each making at least 40% on all shots and 3-pointers too, they especially sizzled at the free-throw line, combining to make 28 of 31 (90.3%), NMU hitting 13 of 14 (92.9%) and Saginaw Valley 15 of 17 (88.2%).

The Wildcats look to win their third straight when they host 10th-place Lake Superior State (2-10 GLIAC) at 1 p.m. today. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of the Play4Kay cause celebrating the attention and support given to the fight against all cancers affecting women.

NMU 80, Saginaw Valley St. 69

Thursday at Vandament Arena

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

SAGINAW VALLEY STATE — McCalla 5-4-16, Lydia Meredith 3-5-12, Borsenik 4-1-9, Yater 3-0-8, Geurink 2-3-7, Dziezgowski 3-2-10, Laynie Meredith 2-0-5, Paradowski 1-0-2. Totals 23-15-69.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Weisbrod 7-2-19, Pytleski 5-2-16, Newcomer 3-0-9, Hill 3-2-8, Romero 2-2-7, Whitehouse 5-2-13, Walder 1-2-5, Schmittdiel 1-1-3. Totals 27-13-80.

Score by quarters:

Saginaw Valley St. 18 17 17 17 — 69

Northern Michigan 26 25 14 15 — 80

FG shooting: Saginaw Valley 23 of 56 (41.1 percent), NMU 27 of 61 (44.3 percent); 3-point shooting: Saginaw Valley 8 of 20 (40 percent), NMU 13 of 27 (48.1 percent); FT shooting: Saginaw Valley 15 of 17 (88.2 percent), NMU 13 of 14 (92.9 percent); Rebounding, Saginaw Valley 36 (Lauren Borsenik 8), NMU 32 (Jordyn Schmittdiel 7); Assists, Saginaw Valley 10 (Lydia Meredith 5), NMU 17 (CJ Romero 7); Steals, Saginaw Valley 8 (Lydia Meredith 4), NMU 9 (Schmittdiel and Sarah Newcomer 3 each); Turnovers, Saginaw Valley 16, NMU 11.

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.