Wildcat women return to scene of recent success
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MARQUETTE -- The women's basketball team at Northern Michigan University makes a return trip to central Wisconsin this weekend after a successful season debut there two weeks ago.
The Wildcats won two of three games during Halloween weekend at the Division 2 Conference Commissioners' Association Midwest Tip-Off Challenge in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. After losing its opener 56-35 to national No. 14 Central Missouri, NMU pulled off a 79-72 win over Truman State (Missouri) and a 66-54 victory over No. 7 Minnesota State-Mankato.
This weekend there will be two games in a nontournament setting at the Justagame Fieldhouse in the Dells -- vs. Lewis (Illinois) at 8 p.m. EST Friday and against Upper Iowa at 8 p.m. EST Saturday.
Each game will be broadcast on radio station WUPZ 94.9 FM The Bay, with live online streaming available on the Justagame Fieldhouse website.
Or follow @NMU_WBBall on Instagram and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during games. Fans can also visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women's basketball schedule for links to live statistics and a preview.
Patient fans of these Wildcats have nine games and another two months before they play their first home game about a week into January against Michigan Tech.
"It was a great week of prepping ourselves and making sure we're doing what we want to do and doing it well," Wildcats head coach Casey Thousand said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend. "Our defense is going to carry us this year, and our team is tough. You get a stop, and it gives you opportunities to get into the offense."
They certainly proved that in the opener, even while it was a loss. They had some crazy stats in that game -- while struggling to hit the ocean as they shot 22% from the field and 15% on 3-pointers, the Wildcats accumulated 17 steals and forced nationally ranked Central Missouri into 25 turnovers.
But no Northern player managed to reach double figures in scoring, Alli Jirsa leading the way with eight points as she hit a relatively solid 3-of-8 from the field and making both her free throws.
They found their shooting range after that, much to the relief of their coach and the win-loss column. In the Truman State game, NMU made 47% of its shots while holding a big advantage in scoring in the paint, 44-24, rebounds, 39-32, and even blocked shots, 5-0.
Raegan Krueger led Northern scorers with 20 points after she went scoreless the previous game. In this contest, she came off the bench and played 23 efficient minutes, hitting 10 of 12 shots while making eight rebounds and even dishing out three assists.
Then vs. nationally ranked Mankato, the Wildcats continued to shoot solidly while adding more lock-down defense. They shot 36% from the field -- holding the usually offensive-minded Mavericks to 29% -- and made 14 steals as they won the rebounding battle 45-35.
Sydney Whitehouse led NMU scorers with 14 points, hitting three triples and grabbing eight rebounds. Teammate Jordyn Schmittdiel owned the boards, however, pulling in a massive 17 rebounds to go with 10 points as she sank 8 of 10 free throws.
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Northern Michigan University's Jordyn Schmittdiel, right, is fouled going up for a shot during a GLIAC game played against Purdue Northwest at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Jan. 22. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)