MARQUETTE, Mich. â€Â“ After spending 17 years andover 280 wins on the Northern Michigan University menâ€Â™s basketball bench as theassistant/associate coach, Troy Mattson picked up his first win as the headwomenâ€Â™s basketball coach.  The Wildcats defeated Finlandia 64-53 on Tuesdaynight at the Berry Events Center.  The â€Â˜Cats with the win are now 1-2 overall. FU falls to 1-4 on the season.

The Lions began the game with a 5-0 spurt and held a 10-3lead with about three minutes gone in the game.  NMU chipped away at the leadand took over the lead at 16-14 when Maria Kasza hit a three-pointer with 10:35left in the first half.  With less than two minutes left in the half, JennaWilliams made a two-pointer to give the â€Â˜Cats their biggest lead of the first20 minutes at 29-17.  NMU held a 29-20 lead at half. 

The Lions hung tough the first couple of minutes of thesecond half.  FU cut the NMU lead down to six points (33-27) at the 16:25mark.  NMU responded with a three-pointer by Williams at 14:55 for the 11-pointlead (41-30).  NMUâ€Â™s largest lead of the second half was 18 points when AllisonCarroll hit a lay-up with 6:29 left in the game to give the â€Â˜Cats the 58-40advantage.  NMU held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Kasza led all scorers with 16 points.  Williams added 10markers in the win.  Cassi Rushford off the bench led the â€Â˜Cats on the boardswith eight rebounds.  For the game, the â€Â˜Cats were 23-77 from the floor for29.9 percent.  From the three-point line NMU was 10-41 (24.4 percent) and fromthe charity stripe the team made all eight of its throws.  The Lions did winthe battle of the boards with a 54-49 edge.  FU did have 27 turnovers for thegame. 

NMU will jump into Great Lakes Intercollegiate AthleticConference play when they host the Oilers from The University of Findlay onSaturday afternoon (Dec. 3) at 1 p.m.