ASHLAND, Ohio – After grinding out four straight wins in February to earn a spot in the GLIAC postseason tournament, the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball season ended on the first day of March.

The Wildcats fell to top-seeded Ashland Tuesday 68-54 to finish their season at 13-15 overall after posting a 12-10 record in the GLIAC for the league’s No. 8 seed in the tournament.

Taylor Hodell led Northern with 17 points, while Chloe Tompkins had 14. Laina Snyder paced Ashland with 16 points.

Ashland (28-1) started rolling from the opening tip as the Eagles started on a 7-0 run. By the end of the quarter, Ashland held a 28-6 advantage.

A trey from Brooke Smith early in the second quarter put the Eagles up by 25 points. Northern whittled the deficit to 20 at the break with the help of a Haley Kershner 3-pointer and a jumper by Kendall Martenet.

In the second half, Hodell cut Ashland’s lead to 15 when she banked in a jumper, but the Eagles maintained a 20-point lead after the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Tompkins knocked down back-to-back treys to cut the Eagles’ advantage to 13 points with less than four minutes left, but Ashland’s defense tightened up the rest of the way to end Northern’s season.

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