MARQUETTE, Mich. â€Â“ Down by 14 points at thehalf the Northern Michigan University womenâ€Â™s basketball team dropped theirthird game in a row to the Lake Superior State Lakers on Thursday night at theBerry Events Center, 68-59.  With the loss the â€Â˜Cats are now 10-8 overall forthe 2004-05 season and 3-7 in the GLIAC.  The Lakers improve to 15-3 and 10-0respectively.

About halfway through the first half the â€Â˜Cats held a 13-8lead after Maria Kasza sank a three-pointer.  The Lakers took the lead over at17-15 with 8:13 left in the first half.  LSSU extended their lead the rest ofthe half with a 19-7 run to end the first 20 minutes of play.  Neither teamreally shot the ball that well in the first half as the â€Â˜Cats were 9-24 fromthe floor (37.5 percent) and the Lakers were 12-30 (40 percent) from thefloor.  But a big difference was the Lakers were a perfect 10-10 from the freethrow line while the â€Â˜Cats were 2-7.

The second half was for the most part was all Lakers.  NMUdid manage to tie the game at 44-all on a lay-up by Tiffany Grubaugh with 11:46left in the game.  The lay-up was part of a three-point play as she sank thefree throw to give the â€Â˜Cats the 45-44 lead.  For the rest of the game theLakers controlled the pace as the â€Â˜Cats got within three when Allison Carrollmade a lay-up with 9:47 left in the game. 

Grubaugh led the â€Â˜Cats with 17 points, six rebounds, threeassists and four steals.  Kasza off the bench had 14 points.  Carroll was thethird â€Â˜Cat in double-figures with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Lakers won the battle on the boards with a 43-33advantage as they also had 19 offensive boards for the game.  For the game NMUwas 23-54 from the floor (42.6 percent), 2-16 from the arc (12.5 percent) and11-16 from the free throw line (68.8 percent).  The NMU defense held the Lakersto 34.5 percent shooting from the floor for the game (20-58).

On Saturday (Jan. 29) the â€Â˜Cats will face the Cardinals ofSaginaw Valley State University at the Berry Events Center for â€ÂœPack the Placeâ€Âat 1:00 p.m.