SAULT STE. MARIE- Northern Michigan University split a pair of nonconference games over the weekend at the Lake State Classic held at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Wildcats, playing in their second straight weekend event, fell to 1-3 on the season and are off until they open the GLIAC campaign and with a pair of home games, their first of the season, at the Berry Events Center in early December. The first will be against Walsh University at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3.

On Saturday, NMU held off Minnesota-Duluth 60-55, while on Sunday, Northern fell to Minot State (North Dakota), 59-51.

Junior guard Bre Gaspervich led the Wildcats in scoring each game, netting 17 against UMD and 20 vs. Minot.

Against UMD, the teams traded leads throughout the first three quarters before Northern took the lead for good when Gaspervich hit a 3-pointer with 8:20 to go to put her team up 44-42. But NMU was never able to build more than a six-point down the stretch.

The Bulldogs held a 13-9 edge after one quarter with Northern going ahead 20-19 at halftime and the teams knotted 38-38 after three quarters.

In the final minute, UMD’s Emma Boehm hit a 3-pointer to cut NMU’s lead to 58-55, but the Wildcats’ Chloe Tompkins made a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining for the final five-point margin.

Tompkins finished with 13 points, including three 3s, while teammate Taylor Hodell added 12 along with tying for a game-high six rebounds. Both Gaspervich and Tompkins dished out four assists.

The Bulldogs’ Allyson Harris led all players with 19 points and six rebounds.

On Sunday against Minot, Gaspervich, who hit four triples, led all players in scoring but was the only NMU player to reach double figures. Next in scoring was Kendall Martenet with seven points as she also paced the team in rebounding with six.

The Beavers grabbed the lead 76 seconds into the game on an Alex Haley jump shot and didn’t relinquish it until NMU’s Emily Schramek hit a 3-pointer with 8:30 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the score 47-47.

In the meantime, Minot held leads of 17-11 after one quarter, 33-26 at halftime and 47-42 after three quarters, going ahead by as many as 10 points on three occasions in the second quarter.

Gaspervich scored six points in the third quarter during the Wildcats’ second-half comeback.

Minot answered Schramek’s game-tying triple with its own by Haley with 6:49 left to retake the lead for good.

Northern got as close again as two points, 52-50, when Gaspervich made a pair of free throws with 2:52 left before Minot closed the game with a 7-1 run.

Savana Kingsbury led Minot scorers with 14 points, while Sarah Lester had 13. Both pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.