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Add a little shooting spice: NMU women’s hoops relies on tight ‘D’ for pair of Midwest Tip-Off wins

NMU women’s hoops relies on tight ‘D’ for pair of Midwest Tip-Off wins

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. -- The women's basketball team sprinkled in a little offense while mixing it with a whole lot of defense to win its final two games at the Midwest Tip-Off Challenge held by the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association in central Wisconsin over the weekend.

Following a 56-35 setback on Friday afternoon to national No. 14 Central Missouri, the Wildcats defeated Truman State (Missouri) 79-72 the next day, and No. 7 Minnesota State-Mankato 66-54 the day after that.

The Wildcats (2-1) take nearly two weeks off before returning to the Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells for three more games this month. The first two will be on back-to-back days, against Lewis (Illinois) at 8 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 13, then vs. Upper Iowa at 8 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Though NMU did play a home exhibition against Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Oct. 22, Northern won't play a game that counts at its home Vandament Arena until Thursday, Jan. 7, a 5:30 p.m. game as the early half of doubleheader with the Wildcats men against Michigan Tech.

Here are details from the final two games of the Midwest Tip-Off:

NMu 79, Truman St. 72

On Saturday afternoon, Northern found a much better shooting touch than it did in its opener, when the Wildcats wasted a 17-steal effort by shooting less than 25% from the field, including barely 15% on 3-pointers.

In this turnaround effort, NMU made nearly half of its shots, 47% on 29 of 62, which included a respectable 30% on triples (7 of 23).

Sophomore forward Raegan Krueger, who didn't score while taking one shot on Friday, led the Wildcats Saturday by coming off the bench to score 20 points, making 10 of 12 from the field while adding a game-high eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.

"The energy was there and we played with a lot more chemistry," Krueger said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing the victory. "I took advantage of the mismatches today and my teammates did a great job of finding me."

Junior guard Addison Pytleski added 14 points, sophomore guard Faith Walder 11 and freshman guard-forward Teagan Schoenecker nine off the bench.

Pytleski hit a pair of triples, pulled down seven rebounds and added three assists and three steals. Walder also hit two 3s with three rebounds and two steals, while Schoenecker was a perfect 4 for 4 shooting, including hitting on her only triple try, while adding two blocked shots.

Junior swing player Sydney Whitehouse scored seven points while making six rebounds, three steals and a team-high four assists.

Truman's Morgan Miller led all scorers with 22 points, making four treys.

Northern showed its presence in the paint, outscoring the Bulldogs 44-24 there while also outrebounding them 39-32 and even making all five blocked shots in the game.

Truman had its last lead at 5-3 when Miller made a triple, but the Wildcats first tied it 5-5 on a Whitehouse layup with 6:48 left in the first quarter, then took the lead 8-5 on an Addison Baumgart triple with 6:16 left.

While the Bulldogs managed to tie the score twice in the second quarter, they never took the lead back from NMU.

Northern built its only double-digit lead of the first half, 22-12 with 1:09 left in the opening quarter, on a Walder layup.

But Truman finished the period on a 7-0 run to get within 22-19 at the first break, then quickly tied it 22-22 on a Sarah Helm trey 36 seconds into quarter No. 2.

The Wildcats answered with back-to-back baskets by Madison Schroeder and Schoenecker about a minute apart to re-establish the lead, though the Bulldogs worked it back to a 33-33 deadlock with four minutes left in the first half.

A Schoenecker 3 and Haddie Showen jumper once again gave NMU a lead, which stood at 41-37 at halftime.

The Wildcats came out in the third quarter and worked on building the lead again, getting it to 51-39 with 6:19 left in the third following a Walder triple. But it didn't stay in double digits long, though Northern was still ahead 61-52 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was a bit of a standoff, good news for a Northern team that began the final 10 minutes with the lead.

The Wildcats first worked their advantage to as many as 12 again, 66-54 the final time on a Krueger layup with 8:26 remaining, before Truman got back within six, 71-65 with 5:10 to go, but never would get closer.

NMU 66, Mankato 54

On Sunday afternoon, defense ruled the roost for the Wildcats as they held the high-flying Mavericks nearly 40 points below their 2025-26 scoring average of 91.2 points per game.

It was also the least Mankato had scored in a game since February 2022.

Statistically, NMU held a 45-35 advantage in rebounds as the Mavericks shot just 29% from the field (16 of 55) and 23% on triples (3 of 13).

Other stats showed the high pressure applied by both defenses -- Northern committed 23 turnovers to Mankato's 22, while the Wildcats had 14 steals and the Mavs 16. There were also 22 fouls called on NMU and 20 on Mankato.

Coming out of all that chaos was Whitehouse leading Northern scorers with 14 points as she hit a trio of triples while pulling down eight rebounds, dishing out four assists and making three steals.

Walder and Jordyn Schmittdiel each scored 10, Walder making 8 of 10 free throws while Schmittdiel had a whopping 17 rebounds to go with three blocked shots and two steals.

Pytleski and Showen each had eight points, Pytleski leading all players with four steals.

"We really turned it up defensively in the second quarter by holding them to nine points," Northern head coach Casey Thousand said in an NMU SI release on this game. "It was a team effort. We were contesting every shot and making it difficult for them.

"People were doing their job and the energy was contagious."

Mankato's Haylee Stokes led all players with 20 points, hitting a trio of 3s.

After Stokes scored six points in the game's first four minutes, the Mavericks led 8-0. But the Wildcats steadily whittled down the deficit, getting it to one point, 13-12, by the end of the first quarter.

Northern also opened the second period with seven straight points, making it a 12-0 run bridging the two quarters, to take a 19-13 lead. Five NMU players had a hand in the scoring during the streak.

Northern upped its lead to as many as 12 points on two occasions in the second, the final time 30-18 on a Schoenecker layup 59 seconds before halftime.

The Mavericks got within 30-22 at intermission, though the Wildcats grew the advantage back into double digits throughout the third period, including 46-36 with the fourth quarter ready to start.

Mankato got as close as eight points, 46-38, before NMU again expanded the lead to as many as 15 points twice, the final time at 64-49 with exactly one minute left on a pair of Walder free throws.

NMU 79, Truman St. 72

Saturday at Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

TRUMAN STATE -- Miller 6-6-22, White 3-10-17, Ott 3-0-7, Helm 6-1-17, Putman 2-0-4, Hameed 1-1-3, Rogers 1-0-2. Totals 22-18-72.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Pytleski 3-6-14, Walder 4-1-11, Whitehouse 3-1-7, Showen 2-0-5, Schmittdiel 0-4-4, Krueger 10-0-20, Schoenecker 4-0-9, Baumgart 1-2-5, Schroeder 2-0-4. Totals 29-14-79.

Score by quarters:

Truman State 19 18 15 20 -- 72

Northern Michigan 22 19 20 18 -- 79

FG shooting: Truman State 22 of 51 (43.1 percent), NMU 29 of 62 (46.8 percent); 3-point shooting: Truman State 10 of 24 (41.7 percent), NMU 7 of 23 (30.4 percent); FT shooting: Truman State 18 of 29 (62.1 percent), NMU 14 of 24 (58.3 percent); Rebounding, Truman State 32 (Braylee Rogers 7), NMU 39 (Raegan Krueger 8); Assists, Truman State 15 (Rogers and Morgan Miller 4 each), NMU 19 (Sydney Whitehouse 4); Steals, Truman State 6 (6 players with 1 each), NMU 8 (Whitehouse and Addison Pytleski 3 each); Turnovers, Truman State 18, NMU 16.

NMU 66, Minn. St. 54

Sunday at Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Whitehouse 5-1-14, Walder 1-8-10, Schmittdiel 4-2-10, Pytleski 3-1-8, Showen 3-1-8, Schoenecker 2-1-6, Krueger 1-4-6, Baumgart 1-0-3, Schroeder 0-1-1. Totals 20-19-66.

MINNESOTA STATE-MANKATO -- Stokes 6-5-20, Holmgren 1-8-10, Czinano 3-1-7, Padgett 2-0-4, Miller 2-4-8, Janssen 1-0-2, Lewis 1-0-2, Leverson 0-1-1. Totals 16-19-54.

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 12 18 16 20 -- 66

Minn. St.-Mankato 13 9 14 18 -- 54

FG shooting: NMU 20 of 55 (36.4 percent), Minn. St.-Mankato 16 of 55 (29.1 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 7 of 24 (29.2 percent), Minn. St.-Mankato 3 of 13 (23.1 percent); FT shooting: NMU 19 of 28 (67.9 percent), Minn. St.-Mankato 19 of 27 (70.4 percent); Rebounding, NMU 45 (Jordyn Schmittdiel 17), Minn. St.-Mankato 35 (Mallory Czinano and Brylee Miller 7 each); Assists, NMU 13 (Sydney Whitehouse 4), Minn. St.-Mankato 5 (Rhyan Holmgren 2); Steals, NMU 14 (Addison Pytleski 4), Minn. St.-Mankato 16 (3 players with 3 each); Turnovers, NMU 23, Minn. St.-Mankato 22.

Story contents based on a pair of Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.