Or is it bad news?

The good is that the Wildcats are at home to open the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, and are facing a team they’ve defeated by 28 and 11 points so far this season.

But the bad news is almost for the same reason, knowing how hard it can be to defeat the same team three times in one season, no matter the sport.

Let alone it coming against your closest rival.

While on the bench, Elsa Bachert, left, and Ava Bates of the Northern Michigan University women's basketball team react to teammate Jacy Weisbrod making a drive through the lane and scoring against Wisconsin-Parkside at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Nevertheless, that’s the task in front of NMU as it hopes to eventually dethrone one of the top teams in the nation, regular-season champion Grand Valley State, and/or reach the NCAA Division II national tournament for the third straight season.

Wednesday’s game is at 5:30 p.m. at Vandament Arena, with NMU Sports Information reminding fans that purchase of two tickets is necessary if fans want to watch both conference tourney games there that day. The men’s game, No. 1 Northern vs. No. 8 Ferris State, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., but the arena will be cleared out after the women’s game to let those ticket holders in.

The Wildcats’ women’s wins over MTU were 74-46 in Houghton on Jan. 8 and 68-57 in Marquette on Feb. 19.

NMU (24-6 overall) had a quite impressive 15-5 record for a team finishing fourth in an 11-team league. Tech was just one spot back in fifth, but only with 10-10 league and 16-12 overall marks.

The game will be streamed online at FloCollege and can also be heard on Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 The Point. 

Fans can also follow @NMU_WBBall on Instagram and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the game, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s basketball schedule for links to ticket information, live video, live statistics, game notes and a preview.

NMU was locked into fourth place before last week, but still put together solid wins, 89-58 over seventh-place Roosevelt on Thursday and 65-56 over sixth-place Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday.

Northern is 10-3 at home this season and with a win Wednesday would reach 25 wins for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, when it was 25-6.

Senior Jacy Weisbrod closed the regular season as the NCAA Division II leader in 3-pointers, making 103 all told to actually lead both Divisions I and II. Her 3.43 per game ranks second.

She led the GLIAC in scoring at 16.8 points per game, while her 40.7% success rate on 3s was third.

Senior Sarah Newcomer has made 73 triples, ranking in the top 30 nationally in 3s made and percentage on those shots. She’s also at 11.2 ppg, second for Northern.

CJ Romero has a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio, best in the conference and No. 14 in the country. And her 4.6 assists per game is No. 2 in the GLIAC.

She leads a Wildcats team that is third lowest in D-II with 11.5 turnovers per game and ninth with a 1.22 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Negaunee product Alyssa Hill, coming off an impressive 18-rebound game vs. Parkside, is No. 4 in the league with 7.6 rebounds a game.

While NMU is on a recent streak of success vs. Tech, having won four of their last five vs. the Huskies, that streak comes after MTU had won 14 in a row in their series.

Tech split last week, losing to Parkside 61-46 and beating Roosevelt 70-51. The Huskies are 6-7 on the road, including losing five of their last six away from home.

MTU’s balanced attack is led by another Negaunee graduate, Ella Mason, who averages 13.1 ppg, while Alyssa Wypych is at 11.2 ppg, Soraya Timms at 10.6 ppg and Janie Tormanen at 10.3 ppg.

Kendall Standfest is just shy of double figures at 9.6 ppg, but the leads her team with 6.7 rebounds an outing.

The Huskies are good at shots worth an odd number of points — their 32.6% on 3s is No. 3 in the GLIAC, while 80.3% on free throws is No. 2.

Wypych’s 87.2% success on free throws is No. 1 in the conference.

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