MARQUETTE – After a late rally came up short Thursday evening against Ashland, the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team blazed out of the gates and never looked back in a 72-47 victory over Lake Erie College on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats improved to 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the GLIAC’s North Division by opening on a 10-0 run.

Sophomore guard Bre Gaspervich dominated the game with a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds to go with five steals for Northern. Her rebounds and steals were more than twice as many as any other player on either team.

Teammate and senior forward Abbey DeBruin added 10 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Lauren Gruber had six rebounds, a game-high five assists and five points.

NMU lost star senior Alyssa Colla in the first half due to a sprained ankle, but the Wildcats didn’t need her on this day as they dominated at both ends of the court.

“I thought we came out with a lot of intensity,” NMU head coach Troy Mattson said. “We didn’t let them get open to shoot 3s, which they love to do. We needed to be ready from the get-go and I thought we did that.”

Mattson returned to the bench for the first time since Dec. 15, the day he made critical comments at a postgame news conference about Wayne State and its star player Shareta Brown that prompted NMU athletic director Forrest Karr to hand down a four-game suspension.

One player who also emerged Saturday was little-used senior guard Sarah Miller, who added nine points in 25 minutes. Those are her first points of the season.

Gaspervich and Colla were key players in NMU’s early run. Gaspervich scored six points off layups, while Colla hit two jumpers and a trey before being forced out of the game due to her injury.

NMU built a 17-2 lead after Colla’s 3-pointer, and the points kept coming as the Wildcats went up 41-21 at the break.

When asked about her performance, Gaspervich felt she needed to take control and help take over as the scorer for the Wildcats.

“I knew when Alyssa got hurt early on, I needed to pick up the slack and I decided to step up,” she said.

Mattson had lots of praise for Gaspervich.

“She’s an amazing player,” he said. “I think you guys are starting to see just a piece of what she’s worth (to us).”

Mattson was unsure about the severity of Colla’s injury, but was hopeful she could return for the Wildcats’ game this week.

The second half was more of the same. The Wildcats continued to drive the lane with ease and stayed hot from the perimeter – NMU finished 25 of 52 shooting for 48.1 percent.

Lake Erie was led by Sami Narducci off the bench with 19 points and four assists as only two Storm starters scored, while teammate Kayla Gabor had 12 points.

The Wildcats stay at home during the coming week, hosting Grand Valley State at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Ferris State at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.