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MARQUETTE -- Courtesy:  NMU

The Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team was defeated by Grand Valley State 67-56 in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup from the Berry Events Center on Thursday (Feb. 7).

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 11-9 and 8-8 in the conference while the Lakers improve to 15-5 and 11-5 in the GLIAC.

GVSU led the first half of play until NMU tied the score at 12 with 5:10 remaining in the half. From there, the Lakers went on a 17-4 run to close out the half with a 29-16 lead.

In the second half of play, the Wildcats trailed by as many as 16, and cut the GVSU lead to eight with 3:03 to go in the game on a free throw by sophomore forward Abby DeBruin. On the next play, the Lakers went to the line for a pair of free throws to increase its lead back in the double digits. NMU went 6-for-7 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of play, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Lakers.

Sophomore guard Alyssa Colla had a game-high 22 points for Northern on 7-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-7 at three point range along with 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Freshman guard Anna Liewen added 11, while DeBruin and sophomore guard Lauren Gruber each contributed 10.

NMU shot 33.3 percent on the night and were 21-for-29 from the free throw line.

For GVSU, Briauna Taylor led with 15 points on 6-for-12 from the floor and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Kat LaPraire had 13 points off of the bench, and Daina Grazulis added eight. Taylor also led in rebounds with seven.

The Lakers were 49.6 percent from the floor and were 68.2 percent (15-for-22) from the charity stripe.

Northern will take on Ferris State on Saturday (Feb. 9) at 1 p.m. from the Berry Events Center. The Bulldogs were defeated by Michigan Tech 68-49 on Thursday night.