Marquette, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University womenâ€Â™s basketball team made up for their two-game losing streak,Thursday night after defeating Grand Valley State University 74-58 at the Berry Events Center.  With the win the â€Â˜Cats are now 15-4 overall and 7-4 in theGLIAC.  Grand Valley is 9-10 and 6-5 in the conference after the loss.

The first seven minutes of the game went back and forth asboth teams fought for the lead.  A lay-up from Tiffany Grubaugh at 12:59 gave the â€Â˜Cats the advantage at 13-11.  The biggest lead of the first half came whenAndrea Brooke made an old fashioned three-point play with 3:30 left in the halfto give the â€Â˜Cats the 33-23 advantage.  NMU held the lead for the rest of thehalf, but barely as both teams would head to the locker rooms at 35-33.  NMUdominated from the floor shooting 54.5 percent, while the Wildcat defense heldGVSU to 33.3 percent.

The start of the second half was also a battle for bothteams, as the lead toggled back and forth for the first five minutes.  Theâ€Â˜Cats took a 10-point lead, 49-39, on a three-pointer by Holly Cole at 11:50 of the second half.  With less than two minutes left in the game Emily Samuelsonsank two free throws to give the â€Â˜Cats the 72-54 lead. 

The Wildcats held GVSU to 20.8 percent shooting from thefloor in the second half, giving them a shooting percent of 28.1 (16-57) forthe game.  NMU shot 52.1 percent (25-48) from the wood for the night.  Not onlywould NMU dominate in shots from the floor, but they would also tally 14 stealsfor the night over Grand Valleyâ€Â™s eight.  Northern Michigan shot 68 percent(17-25) from the free throw line and 50 percent from behind the arc (7-14). The â€Â˜Cats did lose the battle on the boards with 31 rebounds to the Lakers 39. 

Grubaugh led the â€Â˜Cats in the scoring column for the nightbanking 24 points and dishing out a game-high six assists.  Cole pitched in 12points along with Samuelson topping off double-digits for the â€Â˜Cats with 10points. Andrea Brooke pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

NMU will host the Ferris State University Bulldogs on PackThe Place on Sunday (Feb. 8) at 1:00 p.m.