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Saturday June 1, 2024
NMU Wins First Women's GLIAC Title Since 2010

Story courtesy of NMU Athletics

DETROIT--- Led by GLIAC Conference Most Valuable Player Lauren Gruber's 19 points and 10 rebounds, the Northern Michigan University women's basketball team won the GLIAC Tournament Championship, 53-49, over Malone (Ohio) University Sunday afternoon at the Matthaei Center in Detroit.

The Wildcats improved to 22-7 overall while Malone fell to 21-10 on the season.

Northern advanced to the NCAA-II Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Gruber led all players in scoring followed by junior guard Alyssa Colla with 11 points for the Wildcats.

"It was really hard playing two days in a row because we weren't used to it we usually get a day's rest. So you knew their shots weren't going to be all on and you knew our shots weren't going to be all on," said NMU head coach Troy Mattson. "But we are supposedly the two best defensive teams in the conference and that's what it looked like out there.

"It wasn't easy getting easy shots and it wasn't easy getting plays around the basket but we made it the same for them. But that's who we are, we are just going to grind it out and hopefully we can win at the end."


Gruber drained a three as the buzzer sounded to close the first half and gave the Wildcats a 23-18 lead at the break. Rubendunst scored nine out of the Wildcats first 11 points to lead all players at the half.
 

NMU shot 24-percent from the floor in the first half (6-25) but converted 9-10 attempts from the free throw line in the opening frame.

The Wildcats dominated the boards in the first half outrebounding Malone 24-16. Gruber grabbed nine rebounds to lead all players in the first .

NMU opened the second half with a 9-0 run to go up 32-18 with 16:13 left in the game.

NMU maintained the lead the remainder of the game but Malone cut the Wildcats lead to 52-49 on a three-pointer from Sydnee Penn with 8-seconds remaining on the clock.

Colla converted a free throw with 5-seconds left and the Wildcats held Malone without a shot in the final seconds to seal the victory.

NMU outrebounded Malone 37-32 in he contest including a 30-26 advantage on the defensive boards.  Rubendunst and sophomore forward Nea Makela added eight rebounds each for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats shot 34.8-percent in the contest (16-46) and went 10-21 in the second half for a 47.6 field goal percentage. NMU held Malone to 37-percent shooting in the game (20-54). To go along with Gruber's MVP honors Rubendunst was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

"The MVP award couldn't go to a better person," added Mattson. "She (Gruber) is the heart and soul of this team in a lot of ways. She is so tough and she deserves it."

NMU also converted 16-21 free throw attempts in the contest (76.2%) and were 5-20 from three point range (25%).

NMU ADVANCES TO NCAA TOURNAMENT---The Northern Michigan University women's basketball team (22-7) will enter the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 seed Quincy (22-6) in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

The top seed in the region, Drury, will host the first three rounds of the Midwest Regional March 14, 16 and 17 at the O'Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield, Mo. 

Drury will take on No. 8 seed Truman State in the opening round, No. 2 seed Lewis will face No. 7 seed Missouri-St. Louis and No. 3 seed Indianapolis will face Wayne State, which is the sixth seed.


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