WINTER PARK, Fla. â€Ã‚“ The NMU womenâ€Ã‚™s basketball teamstarted their Florida swing on a down note Monday night at RollinsCollege.  The â€Ã‚˜Cats were down by 10 atthe half and dropped a 79-70 decision to Rollins in their first game of athree-game Florida swing.  NMU is now1-4 on the season while Rollins improves to 7-1.

The Wildcats shot better than the Tars all night.  In the first half the â€Ã‚˜Cats shot over 46percent form the floor (12-26) to Rollins 44 percent (16-36).  For the game the â€Ã‚˜Cats were at 45 percent(27-60) as the Tars were a little over 43 percent (29-67).  Rollins went to the free throw line six moretimes than the â€Ã‚˜Cats as they convert 65 percent of their free throws (13-20).  NMU went to the charity stripe 14 times andconverted seven times.  The Tars hadthree more rebounds than the â€Ã‚˜Cats at 40 to 37 rebounds on the night.

NMU did manage to get the score within four at 64-60 with5:38 left in the game.  But, the Tarswent on an 11 to four run to seal the game. 

Tiffany Grubaugh led all scorers with 30 points on thenight.  Jessica Nohl with 12 and TeraOpperman with 10 points were the other two â€Ã‚˜Cats to hit for double-digits.  Nohl also had a game-high nine rebounds.

The â€Ã‚˜Cats will face Florida Tech in Melbourne, Fla. on theirsecond stop of their three-game Florida swing on Wednesday (Dec. 18).