Wildcats fall short against the Lakers

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - Trailing by as many as 25, the NMU women’s basketball team cut the deficit to single digits late in the fourth quarter, but ran out of time as the GVSU Lakers defeated the Wildcats 64-52 on Saturday. Mackenzie Holzwart led the Wildcats with 14 points, going 5-7 from the field. She led the squad with three assists while tacking on four rebounds. With the defeat, NMU dropped to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in conference play. The Lakers improved to 22-2 and 13-1 against the GLIAC.

After some early back and forth, Sarah Newcomer came off the bench and knocked down a triple for an NMU lead. The ‘Cats would push it to 11-6 with 3:04 left in the opening quarter, but GV closed on a 8-0 run to lead 14-11 after the first. That run would stretch to 13-0, going up 19-11 on NMU in the early stages of the second. Back-to-back baskets from Holzwart halted the GV run.

It was another tough close to a quarter for the Wildcats, as the Lakers rattled off 9-0 straight to make a 29-21 game a 38-21 halftime margin. Again to start the third, GV found the first couple of baskets to carry over the first half run. The Lakers kept pressing, doubling up the ‘Cats 50-25 with under four minutes left in the third, the largest lead of the game.

NMU closed the quarter with 10 of the last 14, but still trailed 54-35 with 10 minutes left. NMU limited GV to just two field goals in the final frame, both in the opening minutes. They outscored the Lakers 17-10 in the final quarter and cut the deficit to 59-52 with 0:41 to go, but the Lakers put the game on ice at the FT line.

The Wildcats will be home for the final time this season, with Parkside and Purdue Northwest visiting the Berry. It will start against Parkside on Thursday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m.

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