By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — There’s no reason to procrastinate about winning, so the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team is gobbling up all the victories it can early this season.

The Wildcats ran their record to 4-0 with decisive victories at their new home, Vandament Arena, last weekend. NMU downed Minnesota-Crookston 85-69, then dispatched another Minnesota school, Bemidji State, 80-51.

Northern hits the road for Minnesota this weekend before taking the weekend after Thanksgiving off to properly digest all the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.

On Saturday, the Wildcats play at Minnesota-Duluth at 1 p.m. EST, then travel south to St. Cloud State for a 1 p.m. EST Sunday game there.

NMU returns home on Dec. 5 and 7 to open the GLIAC season with a Thursday game against Purdue Northwest and Saturday one vs. Wisconsin-Parkside.

Here are details from the home wins last weekend:

NMU 85, Minn.-Crookston 69

On Friday afternoon, the Wildcats kept Crookston winless by jumping out to leads of 26-15 after one quarter and 49-34 at halftime.

The Golden Eagles made some inroads in the third quarter, getting its deficit down to single digits before NMU raced past them again in the fourth.

Northern’s Jacy Weisbrod shared scoring honors with Crookston’s Emma Miller as each scored 26 points. While Miller’s points came in a fairly conventional fashion with multiple 2-point and 3-point shots along with some free throws, Weisbrod did it in her dynamic way, sinking 6 of 9 on 3s and not even attempting a free throw.

Weisbrod also grabbed four rebounds as teammate Alyssa Nimz led that category with 11 rebounds despite scoring just one point.

Northern’s Sarah Newcomer added 17 points, making 4 of 7 on triples, while Mackenzie Holzwart put in 11 points.

Negaunee High School product Alyssa Hill grabbed seven rebounds while scoring six points as CJ Romero led all players with seven assists and Madison Schroeder again led the way in blocked shots with two. Schroeder also had seven points and six rebounds.

While the Wildcats shot a healthy 48.4% from the floor overall (31 of 64), then really shot the lights out from long range, making 56.5% on 3s (13 of 23). NMU also held a big 49-30 rebounding edge, more than making up for a 15-9 disadvantage in turnovers.

With Newcomer hitting a fastbreak 3-pointer just four seconds in, Northern led from start to finish. The Wildcats quickly upped their lead to double digits at 12-1 with 5:59 left in the first quarter following a Holzwart layup.

It remained 26-15 at the end of the period before another rush in the middle of the second quarter gave them their first 20-point lead, 43-22, with 4:20 before halftime on a Hill layup.

Still ahead 49-34 at halftime, Crookston came out from the break determined to get back in the game. The Eagles outscored Northern 16-7 in the first seven minutes of the third quarter to make it a one-score game, 53-50, after a Taryn Frazer triple.

NMU had a trick or two up its sleeve, finishing the period on an 8-2 run after Weisbrod and Newcomer each hit 3s and Newcomer added in a layup. That made it a bit more comfortable 61-52 advantage entering the fourth.

The Wildcats’ lead yo-yo’d between single and double digits for about half of the final period until a Nimz free throw got it back to 10, 70-60, with 4:38 to go.

Their advantage never fell back into single digits again as Northern pumped in 15 points over the final four minutes.

NMU 80, Bemidji St. 51

On Saturday afternoon, Weisbrod again got hot in her new Vandament home, scoring 27 points for a 53-point weekend over the pair of contests.

She made four 3-pointers and was 9 of 11 from 2-point range Saturday while also sinking her only free-throw attempt of the weekend.

Weisbrod added five rebounds and didn’t commit a turnover in 30 minutes court time.

Newcomer and NMU newcomer Addison Pytleski added 13 points apiece with Pytleski the model of efficiency, making 4 of 5 from the field, including her only triple attempt, and 4 of 4 free throws in just 16 minutes on the court.

Northern again dominated the boards to a 47-30 advantage, and this time only committed five turnovers to Bemidji’s 14.

Hill scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots against her old team that she played the past two seasons for.

Among current Bemidji players, Ella Giorgi led the way with 17 points and three blocks.

The first quarter went down as a draw. The lead changed hands four times before it was tied 18-18 at the end of 10 minutes.

The teams continued to duel that way until NMU took control in the second half of the quarter No. 2. Still tied 25-25 with 5:48 left before the break, Northern finished the half on a 14-3 run to go ahead 39-28 at intermission. In that streak, Pytleski hit a pair of layups and Newcomer a layup and jumper.

Now with a double-digit lead, the Wildcats were willing to play the third quarter to a draw as they kept a lead of at least 10 points throughout the period, including 62-49 when it ended.

Bemidji then went stone cold in the final 10 minutes, scoring just two points as Northern’s final margin reached almost 30.

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