MARQUETTE – After snapping a four-game losing streak on Saturday, the Northern Michigan University began building a winning streak with their second win in two days by defeating visiting Ohio Dominican 70-62 at the Berry Events Center.

Northern got 17 points from Darby Youngstrom, including two treys in the fourth quarter, along with 16 from Bre Gaspervich. The teams were tied 13 times and exchanged leads numerous times.

“That was a hard-fought game,” NMU head coach Troy Mattson said. “Ohio Dominican plays very physical. They’re very athletic on the wings and at the guard position. Their posts are constantly trying to move our post out and away from the basket.

“We struggled with it a little bit early on in the first half, but I think we made some great adaptations in the second half and were able to counter what they were trying to do.”

Trailing by three points after the first quarter, NMU took a 28-25 lead when Tess Weatherly got three points the old-fashioned way with a basket and follow-up free throw when she was fouled.

The Wildcats held a one-point advantage at the break, 32-31. NMU (4-8, 3-3 GLIAC) got a trey from Gaspervich, who also led the team with six rebounds, along with jumpers from Youngstrom and Chloe Tompkins to take a six-point lead early in the third quarter.

But up by only one point at the start of the fourth, Northern kicked it into gear after getting a jumper and two free throws from Taylor Hodell. Later on, Youngstrom knocked down her two big treys and the Wildcats headed into a four-game road trip with their winning streak. The trip starts at Ashland, Ohio, on Thursday.

Mattson talked about how his team has grown recently and how they are starting to use their players down low and in the paint.

“We had struggled early on, and what happens is that high school kids come out and they’re averaging 20 to 25 points per game,” Mattson said. “They’ve never played with post players before and college basketball is about having good post players along with good guard play. We have to use those posts and we weren’t using them enough early on in the season and I think that might’ve cost us a couple of games early on.

“But we learned. The last couple of games we were really focused on the getting the ball in there. Kendall (Martenet) and Taylor are both good passers and the result is that we get to make some 3s then.

“This past week of practice, we just focused on that the ball has to go into our post players. So from that standpoint, I think this is a huge step in the right direction.

“We had 10 games early and eight were on the road. Young teams have a hard time winning on the road and I think we grew up a lot in the last week, so now we have to go prove it.”

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.