BIG RAPIDS, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University womenâ€Â™s basketball team ended their four-game skid on Saturday afternoonwith an 82-69 win at Ferris State University.  The â€Â˜Cats shot over 50 percentfrom the floor in the first half to improve to 11-9 overall and 4-8 in theGLIAC.  FSU is 9-12 and 7-5 respectively.

NMU was 14-27 in the first half for 51.0 percent, 48.4percent (15-31) in the second half for 50 percent (29-58) for the game.  Theâ€Â˜Cats were also 50 percent from the arc (10-20) for the game as the team was5-9 in the first half (55.6 percent) and 5-11 in the second 20 minutes of play(45.5 percent). 

Tera Opperman gave the â€Â˜Cats the lead at 17-15 at the 11:08mark of the first half when she made a three-pointer.  Over the next threeminutes the â€Â˜Cats went on an 8-2 run to take a 25-17 lead with a little morethan nine minutes left in the half.  The Bulldogs tied the game at 28-all witha couple tick over five minutes left before half on the clock.  But the â€Â˜Catsfinished the half with a 9-2 spurt.  Tiffany Grubaugh accounted for seven ofthe points.

The second 20 minutes of the game was all â€Â˜Cats as they heldthe lead the entire way.  When Andrea Brooke made a three-pointer with 7:23left in the game and the â€Â˜Cats up 67-49, which would be the teamâ€Â™s biggestlead.  NMU ended the game when they made all eight of their free throws withless than a minute left in the contest.   Grubaugh made four of the throws.

Grubaugh was the gameâ€Â™s high-scorer with 24 points.  Shealso had nine rebounds for game-high honors, five assists, three blocks and twosteals.  Maria Kasza off the bench had 19 points.  Allison Carroll was thethird â€Â˜Cat in double-digits with 13 points.  She added six rebounds, fourassists, two blocks and two steals in the win.  Brooke off the bench had 10points.

NMU was 14-19 from the free throw line for 73.7 percent. The home team had a slight advantage on the boards at 42-40, but had a big leadon the offensive end with 17 boards to nine for the â€Â˜Cats.  As a team NMU hadeight blocks and 10 steals. 

The â€Â˜Cats will be home on Thursday (Feb. 10) againstNorthwood for their next game.