By Journal Sports Staff

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Two different kinds of games began the season for the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team over the weekend at the Midwest Region Tip-Off Tournament held at the Justagame Fieldhouse.

The one thing they had in common, however, was the most important — both were wins.

The Wildcats had to go to overtime, and almost at least another OT period, before emerging with a 48-46 win on Friday night over Thomas More.

Then just about 24 hours later, NMU led wire to wire in a 53-48 victory over Lewis.

The Wildcats return home to make the basketball debut of the newly refurbished and expanded Vandament Arena on Friday when they host Minnesota-Crookston at 3 p.m.

The following day, Northern hosts another Minnesota school, Bemidji State, again at 3 p.m.

Here are details from the Wisconsin Dells:

NMU 48, Thomas More 46 (OT)

On Friday evening, the Wildcats led throughout the second and third quarters, but the Saints made it nip and tuck throughout the fourth before Northern’s CJ Romero sank a pair of free throws with 21 seconds remaining to force overtime.

NMU took control again to start OT and never trailed, although a shot at the buzzer by Thomas More originally was called good and would’ve forced a second OT before a review deemed the shot too late.

After all that drama, Northern’s Jacy Weisbrod and Alyssa Hill were the only players from either side to score in double figures. Weisbrod pumped in 11 points, making three 3-pointers, to go with eight rebounds, while Hill, a Negaunee High School graduate who transfered from Bemidji in the offseason, scored 10 points while sharing the game’s top rebounding honors with nine.

Hill also blocked three shots, second only to teammate Madison Schroeder’s four as the Wildcats rejected nine shots in all.

NMU’s Sarah Newcomer added eight points and a team-high four assists. All 10 Northern players who got in the game scored, including a trio of freshmen playing their first college contest — Schroeder, Sydney Whitehouse and Addison Pytleski.

The Saints were paced by Morgan Hunt and Rylee Turner with nine points apiece as Turner joined Hill with nine rebounds.

Neither team shot particularly well — or maybe the credit should go to each defense — as the Wildcats made just 28% from the field (17 of 61) and a paltry 17% on 3-pointers (4 of 23). Thomas More was good on 31% from the field (19 of 63) and 27% on 3s (6 of 22).

The teams traded the lead several times in the opening quarter, but Northern took control when Kayla Tierney sank a 3 — the only NMU triple all night not made by Weisbrod — with 1:52 left to give her team a 13-10 lead after one period.

That came early in NMU’s 15-0 run that eventually produced a 21-10 advantage after Whitehouse made a layup with 4:57 remaining in the second quarter.

Including a 24-16 edge at halftime, the Wildcats’ lead remained close to 10 points until the final few minutes of the third.

That’s when the Saints came up with their own spurt — 12-0 — that first whittled Northern’s lead to 30-28 at the end of the third and eventually gave Thomas More a 33-30 lead with 7:01 to go after a Kendall Sterling triple.

It remained a one-score game the rest of regulation with NMU’s last lead 36-33 after a Hill layup with 4:30 left.

Maybe using the momentum from forcing OT, Hill scored the first four points in extra time on a layup and a pair of free throws, giving NMU a 46-42 advantage.

While the Wildcats never got the lead bigger than that, they also didn’t relinquish their advantage to open the season with a win.

NMU 53, Lewis 48

On Saturday evening, Northern built a lead of as many as 15 points before holding off a late Lewis charge to improve to 2-0.

Newcomer paced the Wildcats’ offense with 14 points — including a quartet of triples — and three assists, while Romero tacked on 10 points. Teammate Alyssa Nimz pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds while scoring six points.

Lewis’ Cierra McNamee led all scorers with 16 points while pulling down six rebounds as the Flyers were held under 50 points for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

Northern’s biggest statistical advantage came on the boards as it held a 41-30 edge, making up for a 19-13 disadvantage in turnovers and 8-1 in steals.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 12-2 lead, scoring their points three at a time — first came Nimz with a “traditional” 3-point play, then Newcomer, Tierney and Whitehouse hit 3-pointers in a span of just under two minutes.

They still held a 19-9 lead after one period, reaching their biggest edge less than a minute into the second after Hill made a layup and Newcomer hit another 3 to make it 24-9 with 9:02 to go.

The lead remained in double digits for the almost all of the next two quarters, including 34-21 at intermission. Lewis finally whittled its deficit to nine, 46-37, less than 30 seconds before the end of the third on a Taylor Gugliuzza layup.

NMU struggled scoring in the fourth quarter, but kept the Flyers from mounting a whole lot of offense. Nevertheless, Lewis got within three points, 51-48, with 14 seconds left after Jenna Badali hit a pair of free throws.

After plenty of player substitutions, Romero was fouled and hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to go to ice the result.

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