UNIVERSITY CENTER – Their talented backcourt powered the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team to their second straight victory on Thursday.

Alyssa Colla scored 21 points and Lauren Gruber added 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 62-46 win at Saginaw Valley State.

The two most telling stats were NMU getting 16 of its points off Cardinals turnovers and that SVSU shot only 1 of 12 on 3-pointers.

NMU (9-6 overall, 7-4 GLIAC) went on a 15-4 run late in the first half to take an 11-point lead. However, the Cardinals (6-11, 1-10 GLIAC) pulled within four points by halftime to trail 26-22.

In the second half, NMU’s offense started clicking again. The Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to take a double-digit lead that eventually was built into a 19-point spread.

The NMU women play at Hillsdale College at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NMU men fall

The Northern men got off to a rough start Thursday evening and weren’t able to recover.

Saginaw Valley jumped out to a 24-8 lead and never looked back as the Cardinals defeated the Wildcats 65-43. Alex Sorenson’s seven points led all NMU scorers.

The Cardinals (14-2, 11-0 GLIAC) controlled most of the first half and shot well from the field, making 16 of 29 baskets.

SVSU pulled further away from the Wildcats (6-11, 4-7 GLIAC) in the second half and ended up dominating NMU in several statistical categories, including second-chance points (14-4) and points in the paint (38-16).

The Wildcat men play at Hillsdale at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. He can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.