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ALLENDALE — Now is the time for the Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team to make Wildcats history.

NMU secured a first-round victory in the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 61-56 victory over No. 6 seed Hillsdale on Friday afternoon, giving this Northern squad a chance to be just the fourth Wildcat women’s team to win multiple games in the spotlight of the national tourney.

Seeded No. 3 after a second-place regular-season finish in the GLIAC, Northern drew a former conference school they hadn’t played since December 2016 in the opening round. Hillsdale, located in the southern Lower Peninsula near where Michigan, Indiana and Ohio meet, is now a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference that includes a number of other former GLIAC schools like Northwood and Ashland.

Northern Michigan University’s Jacy Weisbrod, left, drives to the basket past Lake Superior State defender Jaden Wilder during their GLIAC women’s basketball game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Feb. 13. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

NMU advances to the second-round semifinals of the eight-team Midwest Region, with the regional winner advancing to the Elite Eight to be played in Pittsburgh from March 24-28 that will determine the national champion.

Northern, which improved its season record to 23-8, doesn’t get a lot of rest before having to play regional No. 2 seed Ashland (Ohio) at 5 p.m. today back in Allendale.

No. 1 seed Grand Valley State earned the right to host the Midwest Regional with all games being played at its home court in Allendale.

If it hadn’t been for the GLIAC champion Lakers, Ashland was a good bet to be regional host with a 30-3 record and No. 5 national ranking. However, GVSU entered Friday at 32-2 and No. 2 in the nation in NCAA D-II.

Ashland opened its tourney run later Friday afternoon with a 62-50 victory over GLIAC member Ferris State, which NMU defeated twice in the regular season but lost to in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals.

The Ohio school led by just three points with three minutes left vs. Ferris, but finished the game on an 11-2 run. Zoe Miller scored 15 points to lead four Ashland players in double figures.

Today’s game, along with the NMU men’s NCAA tourney game vs. Michigan Tech being played a bit earlier at 1 p.m., will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Fans can also check the Wildcats’ official athletic site at nmuwildcats.com and look under either team’s schedule for links to live video, live audio and live statistics, along with background on the games.

If the Wildcat women can pull off a second NCAA victory today, they will take a day off before advancing to the Midwest Region championship game slated for 7 p.m. Monday, again in Allendale, and again would be broadcast locally on WUPT.

In program history, the NMU women have now won 15 games, including 11 in first-rounders, in the NCAA tournament.

In Friday’s victory, NMU held an opponent under 60 points for the 15th time this season. That defense came in handy as the Wildcats fell behind by six points in the opening quarter before keeping the Chargers (21-10) to a total of just 15 points in the second and third quarters combined to jump ahead by a dozen points entering the final quarter.

During the second and third quarters, Hillsdale shot just 24% from the field, 7 of 29.

“I trusted our defense and I think our team defense in that second and third quarter was really good,” Northern head coach Casey Thousand said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing the game. “It took heart, energy and effort today, and we needed a full team effort to get the job done.”

Mackenzie Holzwart scored 13 points to lead three Wildcat players scoring in double figures as Jacy Weisbrod had 12 and Negaunee High School product Alyssa Hill 11.

Holzwart was efficient, making 4 of 6 shots from the field including her only 3-point try, and 4 of 5 on free throws while adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Weisbrod, who made a program record-tying nine triples in NMU’s NCAA opening-round tourney win a year ago, made four of the long-range shots this time around to account for all of her points. She also didn’t turn the ball over in 31 minutes court time.

Hill shared game-rebounding honors of 10 with teammate Abi Fraaza, who had eight points.

With Hill, Fraaza and Holzwart leading the way, NMU outrebounded Hillsdale 45-38 as neither team shot particularly well, each making around a third of their shots and barely more than 20% on 3s, though each made exactly 75% of their free throws.

Lauren McDonald led the Chargers with 16 points, nine rebounds and six steals, though she also had four turnovers.

The lead changed hands eight times in a competitive first quarter, Hillsdale leading 19-18 headed to the second period. After Weisbrod sank her second triple of the game just 14 seconds into period No. 2, NMU took a 21-19 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Ahead 31-25 at halftime, the Wildcats built their first double-digit lead, 36-25, with 8:19 left in the third quarter after an Alyssa

The lead expanded to as many as 16 points, 43-27, after a Weisbrod triple with 4:55 left in the third before Northern settled for a 46-34 edge entering the final quarter.

Hillsdale found its range again in the fourth, whittling NMU’s advantage to just three points, 56-53, with 1:11 left after a Kendall McCormick 3.

Northern answered with three free throws in trips to the line by Fraaza and Holzwart over the next 35 seconds to get back a 59-53 lead.

McDonald banked in one more triple with nine seconds left to get it back to 59-56, but Holzwart calmly went to the line and hit two final free throws with eight seconds to go for the final two-possession margin.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.