That’s what now third-year head coach Casey Thousand helped accomplish with the Wildcats’ 22-10 record last season. NMU not only made the national tourney for the first time since 2019, but defeated opening-round opponent Kentucky Wesleyan to advance to the round of 32 before bowing out.

Before that, Northern hosted a game in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals after finishing third in the league regular season and made a run to the conference championship contest.

NMU opens it season tonight at the NCAA D2 Midwest Region Tip-Off at the Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, playing Thomas More at 6 p.m. EST just before the Northern men face Maryville in their part of the event.

The Wildcat women remain on-site to also play Lewis at 6 p.m. EST Saturday, with each game broadcast on radio station WUPZ 94.9 The Bay.

Northern Michigan University’s Mackenzie Holzwart goes up for a shot during a game played against Northwood at the PEIF Gym in Marquette on Dec. 19, 2023. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Fans can also follow @NMU_WBBall and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during games. Or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s basketball schedule for links to live video, live audio, live statistics and a preview and history against their opponents.

The NMU women return home for their first official game at their new venue, the previously volleyball-only Vandament Arena, at 3 p.m. next Friday to host Minnesota-Crookston. Vandament was renovated and expanded over the past year and now has seating on all four sides with a capacity of about 1,500 and new state-of-the-art, large scoreboards.

“We’re gelling together and we’re still learning at the same time,” Thousand said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the season and this weekend’s games. “It’s fun and exciting to have that first road trip, for everyone to come together and hang out and have that team time.

“We are going to play differently without (Makaylee Kuhn), and it’s going to be a little different with what we’re doing, but we have good people back who did a lot of scoring for us last year, too.”

Kuhn will be missed after she became the program’s all-time leading scorer last season, finishing with 2,005 points. A senior last year, she not led the league in scoring at 16.7 points per game, but was a four-time GLIAC First Team honoree and won numerous other awards, such as a berth on the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-America Third Team and a GLIAC Commissioner’s Award.

Northern Michigan University’s Sarah Newcomer, center, gets around Wayne State's Kate McArthur, right, and drives to the lane for a shot during their GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on March 6. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Thousand, who has a .617 winning percentage in two seasons at 37-23 at NMU, also has to replace GLIAC All-Defensive center Ana Rhude, who also graduated, as the Wildcats were either first or second in the league last year in defensive rebounding at 28.0 per game and turnover margin at plus-12.6. NMU scored 66.4 ppg and allowed 60.1.

Associate head coach Jordan Sweeney will return for a second year, now in that elevated position.

The leading candidate on Northern’s 17-player roster to fill those big shoes is guard Jacy Weisbrod, who was selected to the GLIAC Preseason Second Team after earning the same honor at the end of last year, her first year as a Wildcat.

She was in the top 10 in the conference after averaging 12.7 ppg, including 14.8 ppg in league contests. Weisbrod led the GLIAC in 3-point shooting, making 42.4% (92 of 217), with her total makes ranking sixth in NCAA Division II.

She made a big impression in the NCAA tourney, knocking down a massive nine triples for a career-high 29 points in the national tourney opener. The nine made 3s tied the Northern record.

Four other guards also return with varying degrees of starting experience — CJ Romero, Mackenzie Holzwart, Sarah Newcomer and Kayla Tierney.

Romero started 10 times last season and played 28 games, recording multiple assists in 14. Holzwart started 19 times and averaged 6.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists each time out.

Newcomer made 25 starts and played in all 32 of NMU’s games, averaging 7.8 ppg, second only to Weisbrod among players who are back. And Tierney made 20 starts, playing in all 32 games, totaling over a hundred points and 60 rebounds.

Frontcourt returnees Abi Fraaza, Alyssa Nimz and Braelyn Torres look to leap ahead, since it is a leap year, while joining them will be a transfer who is actually returning home — Alyssa Hill, a Negaunee High School graduate who played two years at Bemidji State in Minnesota, starting 51 of her 52 games there.

Hill was named to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Second Team last season after leading the Beavers in scoring at 13.2 ppg.

A six-woman freshman class adds depth to the lineup — guards Sydney Whitehouse, Addison Pytleski and Megan Marta, along with forwards Madison Schroeder, Jordyn Schmittdiel and Ava Bates.

Marta is a Westwood High School product and makes it three players from area high schools playing for the Wildcats, which also includes junior guard Reide Osterman of Baraga.

Like their male counterparts, the NMU women were chosen third in the GLIAC Preseason Poll of league coaches. Unlike the men, who won the league regular-season a year ago, the Northern women were picked where they finished last year even after making a run to the tournament championship tilt.

With coaches voting for every team but their own, Grand Valley State was as unanimous a No. 1 pick as possible, getting 10 of 11 first-place votes. Ferris State got the other first-place tally and was second. Both those teams along with NMU finished in the same positions at the end of last year’s regular season.

Wisconsin-Parkside was chosen fourth and Michigan Tech fifth, flip-flopping their 2023-24 finishes, with the rest of the league also picked where they ended last year — Wayne State sixth, Saginaw Valley State seventh, Purdue Northwest eighth, Davenport ninth, Roosevelt 10th and Lake Superior State 11th.

Actually, Roosevelt wasn’t in the league last year but was slotted between DU and LSSU, those pair of teams tied for the bottom with 1-17 league marks a year ago.

Looking at this weekend’s matchups, NMU has never played Thomas More before, but did pull out a tight 56-52 win over Lewis in Marquette about this time last year, a game where Weisbrod scored 11 points in her NMU debut.

Thomas More of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference was 18-11 last year, scoring 65.7 ppg and shooting 41.4% from the field. The Saints were picked sixth in the 13-team G-MAC and are led by returning junior forward Rylee Turner, who averaged 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds last season.

Lewis poses a big challenge as Saturday’s game will be between a pair of NCAA Midwest Region entrants last spring. The Flyers, who lost to Ferris in their national tourney opener in March, have been picked to repeat as Great Lakes Valley Conference champions after 23-9 overall and 19-3 league marks last season.

Lewis returns two GLVC Second Team starters in Jenna Badali and Taylor Gugliuzza. Badali was GLVC Tournament MVP, averaging 14.0 ppg, 4.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.