Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod goes up for a shot during a game played against Bemidji State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Nov. 16. Weisbrod wasn’t available to play Saturday when the Wildcats lost at No. 1 Grand Valley State. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

ALLENDALE — It would have to be considered a hollow victory, but Northern Michigan University did something no other NCAA Division II team has done against Grand Valley State this season.

Stay within 10 points.

The Wildcats fell 81-71 to the nation’s No. 1 team in Division II on Saturday afternoon. The Lakers aren’t perfect, however, at 4-0 in the GLIAC and 13-1 overall. GVSU’s lone loss came against some team from some conference called the Big Ten — it was an 82-57 setback at Division I Ohio State on Dec. 17.

Against Division II, GVSU’s closest call had been a 15-point, 73-58 win at Quincy on Dec. 13 and a 17-point, 69-52 victory at then-No. 6 Montana State-Billings on Nov. 2.

Saturday’s loss was Northern’s first in the GLIAC as the Wildcats are now 3-1 and in third place alone behind the Lakers and 4-0 Ferris State.

The setback also dropped NMU to 9-3 overall, with all three losses coming in the past four games.

The Wildcats have just one game this week, but it’s at home against heated Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Vandament Arena. That game and the men’s to follow it will be televised on Fox-U.P., according to the WLUC-TV6 website, www.uppermichigansource.com.

On Saturday, Northern had to play without its top scorer and the GLIAC’s best and most prolific 3-point shooter, Jacy Weisbrod.

Alyssa Nimz stepped into the scoring breach, scoring 17 points by making 6 of 9 shots from the field, including 2 of 3 on triples, and adding a 3-of-3 performance at the free-throw line.

Nimz also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds as eight of the nine Wildcats who saw the floor each had at least three rebounds.

Despite that depth on the boards, GVSU still held a fairly narrow 40-35 advantage there.

Freshman Sydney Whitehouse came off the NMU bench to score 11 points, hitting a 3 as she broke into double figures scoring for the first time. She also made both her free throws in just 13 minutes court time, while another player off the bench, Addison Pytleski, added nine points with a triple and three assists.

Teammate and Negaunee High School product Alyssa Hill added eight points and no turnovers in 27 minutes, while Mackenzie Holzwart had six points with a 3, five rebounds and a game-high seven assists.

GVSU’s Rylie Bisballe led all players with 22 points and 11 rebounds, hitting a pair of 3s and dishing out four assists. For the deep Lakers, she was their only player who saw the court for more than 25 minutes, playing for 33 herself.

The Wildcats got off to a fast start, taking a 23-22 lead after one quarter before Grand Valley started to assert itself.

In the opening quarter, the lead changed hands seven times in the 10 minutes, neither team holding more than a one-possession lead except near the very end when Whitehouse nailed a 3 to put the Wildcats up 23-19 with 1:33 left.

But just a few seconds later, Bisballe hit her own triple to cut the home team’s deficit to a single point by the time the second quarter began.

Grand Valley retook the lead just 11 seconds into that period on a Bisballe layup before Northern took its final lead, 27-26, on a pair of Holzwart free throws with 7:28 to go before halftime.

From there, the Lakers used a 12-2 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes to go ahead 38-29, settling for a 46-38 cushion at intermission.

While NMU kept Grand Valley from getting out ahead by much more than 10 points in the third, they couldn’t quite catch all the way up. Northern got as close as four points, 54-50, when Sarah Newcomer hit a jumper with 3:40 to go as the Lakers extended their lead again to 60-51 by the close of the period.

Bisballe’s first points of the fourth on a jumper 30 seconds in put GVSU back up by double digits, 62-51, where it would stay for the rest of the remaining time. NMU’s final points, a pair of free throws by Nimz with 57 seconds to go, would be as close as the Wildcats would get down the stretch.

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