Northern Michigan University’s CJ Romero goes up for a shot in a GLIAC game played against Wayne State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Wayne State scored the final eight points, including the go-ahead 3-point basket with 17 seconds left, to pull out a 61-60 victory over the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team at Vandament Arena on Thursday evening.

The loss dropped the Wildcats into a third-place tie in the GLIAC at 5-2, while they are 11-4 overall. They could’ve slipped a bit further, but the other two teams that previously were tied with NMU played each other on Thursday as Ferris State upended Wisconsin-Parkside 75-69.

Now Northern is tied with Parkside, a game behind Ferris and two back of national No. 1 Grand Valley State, which destroyed Davenport 110-51 on Thursday.

In contrast, the NMU-Wayne State game was nip and tuck throughout the first 2 1/2 quarters, with the lead changing hands a dozen times.

Then the Wildcats took over about midway through the third. With 4:10 left in the period, Jacy Weisbrod, with Thursday being her first action in 2025, hit a 3-pointer to put NMU ahead 38-37.

The shot couldn’t have been a surprise to anyone in the building, considering she is Northern’s leading scorer and is the top 3-point shooter in the conference, both by volume and accuracy. She makes 3.2 per game, also ranking her second nationally, and hits at a 36.4% success rate, each statistic No. 1 in the GLIAC.

While Wayne State was able to tie the game a few minutes later, NMU wouldn’t fall behind again until the game’s final 30 seconds.

After Weisbrod’s triple, the Wildcats nursed a one-possession lead for about two minutes as the Warriors (9-6, 4-3 GLIAC) pulled into a 40-40 tie with 2:23 left in the third on a pair of Shea Tripp free throws.

Maybe that spurred Northern into action as the Wildcats immediately scored eight straight points over the next minute and a half to go ahead 48-40. That spurt included triples by Sarah Newcomer and CJ Romero along with two free throws by Romero.

Still ahead 50-44 at the end of the quarter, Northern maintained a two- or three-possession lead for most of the fourth.

“Most” was the operative word, however, as after Romero made another two free throws with exactly three minutes to go, NMU was still up 60-53.

But the Wildcats wouldn’t score another point.

Wayne State chipped away, pulling within 60-58 with 2:19 to go on a Taylor Thompson layup.

But even the Warriors had trouble putting the ball in the hoop down the stretch, not scoring again until Jaci Tubergren knocked down a 3 with 17 seconds left to give WSU its first lead since the middle of the third period.

Northern had one final chance as Romero tried a layup just as the clock was running out, but it either was missed or came too late, according to the play-by-play account of the game.

Newcomer finished as the only Wildcat to score in double figures, putting in 14 points as she made a quartet of 3s. She also had three assists.

In her first game back after close to a month out of action, Weisbrod came off the bench and played just 15 minutes, managing nine points, all on her 3-of-4 triples shooting.

Alyssa Nimz added eight points and five rebounds to the NMU cause, while Romero had seven points as she was 4 of 4 on free throws to go with four rebounds.

Abi Fraaza pulled down a team-high seven rebounds despite playing just 18 minutes coming off the bench.

The Wildcats lost despite outrebounding their guests 38-33 and going a perfect 8 of 8 on free throws. They did have more turnovers, 17-10, and committed a handful more fouls, 19-13.

The Warriors’ McKenna Ferguson led all scorers with 17 points as she also led all rebounders with nine and all larcenists with four steals.

At the game’s outset, Fraaza gave Northern its third lead of the opening quarter at 9-8 when she made a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left. Then WSU’s Mackenzie Miller hit a 3 with 30 seconds to go to give the visitors an 11-9 advantage after one period.

The teams again shared the lead in the second quarter, but with much less back and forth. Wayne State built a 15-11 lead on a Ferguson layup with 8:51 left before NMU chipped away and went up for the rest of the half on a Madison Schroeder jumper, 19-18, with 5:54 to go.

The Wildcats’ lead went as high as six points, 26-20, with 1:13 remaining on a Kayla Tierney layup before they settled for a 26-22 halftime edge.

The teams traded the lead several times to begin the second half before Weisbrod’s triple started NMU on retaking control later in the third quarter.

Northern completes its current four-game homestand by hosting Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. today. The Cardinals are 8-7 overall and 2-5 in league after getting blasted by Michigan Tech 84-46 on Thursday in Houghton.