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Victorious

UNIVERSITY CENTER – Bre Gaspervich continued her torrid scoring pace and Northern Michigan University pulled away in the final quarter for a 67-61 upset at Saginaw Valley State in a women’s basketball game played Thursday evening.

The junior guard scored 24 points, the third time in the past four games she has exceeded 20. She was 4 of 8 on 3-point shots while grabbing six rebounds, dishing out six assists and making three steals. Her only negative statistic was eight turnovers.

It helped the Wildcats solidify their hold on a GLIAC tournament berth as NMU improved to 11-13 overall and 10-8 in the league. Northern is tied with Northwood for seventh place for the eight-team tournament, one game ahead of Findlay with four games remaining to play.

SVSU, meanwhile, fell to 16-7 overall and 13-5 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals could’ve moved into a tie for second place with Michigan Tech had they defeated the Wildcats.

Northern survived a night with 26 turnovers by outrebounding Saginaw Valley 31-21 and shooting 56 percent overall from the field, including 57 percent on 3-pointers (8 of 14).

A Gaspervich layup about halfway through the first quarter gave NMU a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The lead expanded into double digits for most of the second quarter before SVSU made several comebacks beginning early in the second half.

The Cardinals got it down to two points, 37-35, when Anna Hall hit a shot with 6:12 to go in the third quarter, but Northern went on a 7-1 run to re-establish a more comfortable lead and was still ahead 47-41 to start the fourth.

SVSU again cut it to two, 47-45, with 8:06 to go before a final run put NMU’s stamp on the game. A 12-2 Northern run rebuilt a double-digit lead for all but the final 25 seconds.

Redshirt freshman guard Darby Youngstrom added 12 points for Northern, while senior Kendall Martenet and freshman Taylor Hodell each pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Hodell also had three blocked shots.

The Cardinals were led by Katelyn Carriere with 18 points and Emily Wendling with 14 points and a team-high rebounds. Teammate Halee Nieman added six steals and three assists.

NMU stays downstate to face Hillsdale at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee.

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