UNIVERSITY CENTER — The SVSU Women's Basketball team hosted Northern Michigan Saturday (Feb. 10) afternoon. The Cardinals led for the majority of the contest, but a fourth quarter surge from the Wildcats brought much success and left SVSU with a 67-62 loss in O'Neill Arena.  

With back to back Cardinal triples to open up the first quarter from Francesca Coury and Anna Hall, SVSU was off to a great start in the first five minutes of action, leading 7-3 at the media timeout. 

Another triple from Coury put the Cardinals up 11-5 with 2:49 remaining in the quarter. A steal by Rozhane Wells led to a great layup with just under two minutes remaining, putting the Cardinals up 15-12. 

A last second triple from Katie Schultz put Saginaw Valley State up, 18-12, heading into the second quarter. 

NMU responded wiht an eight-point run to put the Wildcats in the lead, 20-18, with eight minutes to go in the half. The Cardinals bounced back and went on a 7-0 run before the media timeout in the second to go up, 28-22, with Hall leading the team with eight points. 

Saginaw Valley grabbed two more buckets to end their run at 11 to go up, 32-22, with 3:28 to go in the second quarter. 

A few more baskets from each side kept the Cardinals in the lead, 36-30, with SVSU shooting 59.1% total from the field and went 5-of-7 in triples at the halftime break. 

With a NMU 9-0 run carrying over from the second quarter, Hall breaks the run at 8:45 to put the Cardinals up, 38-33. Hall went on to score the next two SVSU buckets; The Wildcats responded and tied the game, 42-42, with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter. 

Laurel Jacqmain got her first bucket of the day, putting the Cards back on top 46-44 at the 4:19 media timeout. 

A triple from Settingsgaard puts her stat line in double-figures with 10 points and Saginaw Valley in the lead 50-47, heading into the final 10 minutes of action. 

Northern Michigan notched a bucket at the beginning of the fourth quarter to tie the Cards 50-50 with nine minutes remaining in the game. 

With a SVSU foul, the Wildcats head to the charity stripe and post the first back-to-back good free throws in the game to go up 52-50 with 8:17 left in the contest. 

Hall continued to shine bright in the contest and broke her career-high with 20 points at the 6:21 mark to lead NMU, 55-52.

NMU was not finished yet, putting up a 63-58 lead at the Cardinals timeout with 1:17 remaining in the contest. The Wildcats continued aggression and consistency led to the Cardinal's defeat in O'Neill Arena, 67-62.

Inside the Box Score: 

• Hall earned herself the "Meijer" player of the game accolades by posting her career-high of 20 points in today's loss against the Wildcats. 
• Settingsgaard notched 10 points and two assists. 
• Schultz had 10 points, two boards and two assists off the bench for the Cardinals. 
• Jacqmain led in boards with eight and added nine points. 
• The Wildcats went 44.2% from the floor while the Cardinals shot 42.6%.
• NMU won the battle of the boards 39-27, as well.

 From Head Coach Jamie Pewinski 

"Overall we had a great effort tonight. Katie and Anna really had big scoring games which helped the offense as Northern made it tough for Cessa and Laurel to get shots they're comfortable with. With 4 games to go, I'd love to see us continue that effort. We will continue to work on executing down the stretch and hope to see some growth in that area."

Up Next... 

The Cardinals will remain in O'Neill Arena for their final regular season game at home against Wayne State on Thursday (Feb. 15) night. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. against the Warriors. 

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