HANGING TOUGH: 'Cats Battle No. 1 Grand Valley

This story was written by NMU Sports Information. Click to see RRN videos of the game, and to hear post-game comments from Coach Casey Thousand.

ALLENDALE, Mich. - On the road against the No. 1 team in the nation, the Northern Michigan women's basketball team put forth a commemorable effort, but fell to the Grand Valley State Lakers 81-71 on Saturday afternoon.

It's the first conference loss for the Green and Gold this season as they are now 3-1 in GLIAC games and 9-3 overall. The Lakers improved to 13-1 and 4-0 in conference clashes. The 10-point margin was the closest win for Grand Valley this season.

Without its top scorer in Jacy Weisbrod for the second straight game, Northern looked for everyone to step up and contribute and they got the balanced effort they were looking for. All nine 'Cats scored, led by Alyssa Nimz with 17 points. Freshman Sydney Whitehouse broke double figures for the first time in her career with 11 points and five others scored six or more points.

Grand Valley State's Rylie Bisballe, the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, led all players with a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Mackenzie Holzwart dished out seven helpers, six of those coming in the opening half, to guide NMU to a 17-11 assists advantage. The 'Cats committed 14 turnovers to GV's seven.

Coming off a season-low 47-point outing at Davenport, the offense came out clicking on all cylinders. Nimz opened the game with a corner three and would later convert on another while drawing a foul for a four-point play. Whitehouse and Kayla Tierney also added triples in the first frame as NMU shot 50.0% from the floor to narrowly lead 23-22 after one. The 45 combined points was the highest-scoring first quarter for NMU this season. The opening 10 minutes saw six ties and six lead changes in a fast-paced, back-and-forth affair.

The Lakers broke out on a 12-2 run in the second quarter to lead 38-29 with three minutes before halftime. The 'Cats offense slowed down for a stretch, making just two of its first seven shot attempts in the second, but ended hot, making four of the last five to keep pace with the high-octane Lakers offense. NMU trailed 46-38 at the intermission.

Mackenzie Holzwart connected from beyond the arc coming out of halftime to cut the deficit to five and a 7-0 run a few minutes later closed the gap to 54-50 with 3:40 to play in the third. That was the closest Northern could dwindle its deficit, as GVSU ended the quarter with five straight to lead 60-51.

The home squad put the game away as the fourth quarter started with a 9-2 run to hold its largest lead at 69-53 with seven minutes to play. Freshman guards Addison Pyletski and Whitehouse showed promise for NMU's future, combining for nine straight, but the Wildcats couldn't quite catch the Lakers as time ran out.