ASHLAND, Ohio â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University womenâ€Â™s basketball squad dropped its sixth game in a row on Monday at Ashland University.  The â€Â˜Cats kept it close as they were only down by two points with 12minutes left in the second half, but in the end the â€Â˜Cats were on the short endof a 73-62 score.  With the loss the â€Â˜Cats are now 6-18 overall and 2-15 in theGreat Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).  The Eagles improve to18-9 and 12-4 respectively.

NMU kept the game close in the first half as Ashland never had a lead bigger than 12 points (24-12).  That was at 9:11 of the half. After that point in the half NMU went on a 15-4 run to cut the Eagles lead toone point (28-27) after Tera Opperman connected from beyond the three-pointline with 5:14 left in the half.  About a minute later after a made basket bythe home team Allison Carroll hit her jumper to have the â€Â˜Cats within one onceagain (30-29).  Ashland finished the half with a 9-4 spurt to end the first 20minutes with a 39-33 lead.

The second half saw the â€Â˜Cats tie the game twice within thefirst seven minutes.  But after that time it was all Eagles.  Opperman againconnected from long range to get the â€Â˜Cats to within six at 58-52 with abouteight minutes left in the game.  Less than two minutes later, AU had a 10-pointlead at 62-52.  The Eagles kept a double-digit lead the rest of the game. Maria Kasza made a three-pointer for the final basket of the game with lessthan a minute left in the game for the final margin.

Three â€Â˜Cats ended the game in double-digits in the scoringcolumn.  Opperman led the â€Â˜Cats with 17 points for the game.  Kasza ended the40 minutes with 16 points.  The final â€Â˜Cat in double-digits was Carroll with 14points.  She also had three steals in 38 minutes of play.  Ohio product AimeeKovinchick playing in her home state led the â€Â˜Cats on the boards with sixrebounds.  She also had a team-high three assists.  Catherine Portyrata led theEagles with 21 point.  Lisa Graue grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

For the game the â€Â˜Cats were 23-56 from the floor for thegame for 41.1 percent.  NMU was 9-20 in three-pointers as Opperman (4-8) andKasza (4-8) accounted for eight of the threes.  For the game the â€Â˜Cats shot45.0 percent from beyond the arc.  NMU was a perfect 7-7 from the free throwline.  The home team had a 19-rebound advantage over the â€Â˜Cats (39-20).

The â€Â˜Cats will face Michigan Tech in the season and homefinale on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11 a.m.