UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team fell 56-52 to Northern Michigan in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday afternoon inside O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals (7-8, 2-3 GLIAC) went cold in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats (10-5, 5-1 GLIAC) battled back from a deficit to steal the win.

Tori DePerry led the team with her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Kaitlyn Zarycki scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting in her return for SVSU. Tyler Scheid tallied eight points and Emma Dziezgowski contributed seven points off the bench.

The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead early in a sloppy start to the opening period. NMU scored four-straight points to take a 4-3 lead with just 4:45 remaining in the first. DePerry netted six points to build a 10-6 advantage before Dziezgowski hit a jumper and a three to end the quarter with a 15-8 edge for Saginaw Valley State.

Zarycki hit a layup and a jumper to give the Cardinals the first double-digit lead of the game, 19-9, at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter. The lead hovered around that margin until a 5-0 run by NMU ended the half with a 30-24 score in favor of SVSU.

DePerry scored the opening five points of the third to pull the lead back to 11 in the opening two minutes of play. The Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run that cut the deficit to five points before finally taking the first lead since the first quarter with a shot from deep put things at 39-37 with 2:30 on the clock. The teams traded leads until the final buzzer sounded with a 46-41 result for Saginaw Valley State.

The score remained close through the first half of the fourth quarter before the Wildcats tied things up at 52 with 2:56 left in regulation. NMU scored the game's final four points and held on to earn the tightly contested win.

UP NEXT

The SVSU women's basketball team will travel to Davenport on Thursday, January 12 for the team's first road trip of the new year. The Cardinals and Panthers will long up at 5:30 PM.