MARQUETTE, Mich. - Ã‚ The Northern Michigan womenâ€Ã‚™s basketball team used a big first half torace to a 44-17 lead after 20 minutes of play against the Golden Knights ofGannon University on Tuesday afternoon. The â€Ã‚˜Cats won the game by a 77-65 count.  During the first half the â€Ã‚˜Cats shot 50 percent from the floor(15-20) while the Golden Knights could only manage 20 percent from the field(6-30).  Gannon scored their firstbasket at the 13:35 mark of the first period to make the score 21-2.  NMUâ€Ã‚™s biggest lead was 27 points in thefirst half. 

With the win NMU is now 4-4 overall and 1-1 in the GLIACwhile Gannon drops to 5-6 and 1-2.

The â€Ã‚˜Cats cooled off a bit in the second half as theymanaged to shoot 31 percent from the floor (7-22).  Gannon was the hot team in the second 20 minutes as they wereshooting at a 54 percent (18-33) rate. For the game the â€Ã‚˜Cats shot a little over 42 percent while the GoldenKnights were at 38 percent.

Jessica Nohl led the â€Ã‚˜Cats with 22 points as she was six of10 from the floor and 10 of 12 from the free throw line.  Tiffany Grubaugh had 14 points on theafternoon while Emily Samuelson contributed 11 points and Elena Keranen had 10points in the win.  Michelle Moard ledthe way on the boards with 13 rebounds. She had one offensive board and 12 defensive boards.  The â€Ã‚˜Cats won the battle of the boards asthey had 45 rebounds to the Golden Knights 32 boards.

The â€Ã‚˜Cats will be in action again on Thursday, Jan. 2against Ashland.