UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Northern Michigan University Wildcats Saturday afternoon (Jan. 23).  The Lady Cardinals fell to the Wildcats, 69-67, in overtime.  The loss drops SVSU to 4-13 overall on the season with a 2-10 record in the GLIAC.  Northern improves to 12-5 on the year, with a 9-3 record in conference play.

SVSU led for much of the first half, holding a nine point advantage twice in the frame, the last being at the 11:59 mark.  The score would be tied at the 50-second mark in the half, however, Northern Michigan's Steffani Stoeger made good on a layup attempt as time expired to give the Wildcats a 29-27 advantage heading into the locker room.  

In the second half, Northern held the lead until the 13:35 mark, when SVSU took a one-point advantage at 40-39.  The lead would bounce back-and-forth from there until the score was tied for the seventh time at the 3:32 mark at 57-57.  The Lady Cardinals led by two with 56-seconds left, but two free-throws by Northern's Mariah Dunham knotted the game at 61, which is where the score would remain heading into overtime.

In the extra frame, Saginaw jumped out to a two-point advantage via a lay-up by senior guard Kelley Wesp (Cincinnati, Ohio/Glen Este HS), making the score 63-61.  The Wildcats would take the lead and extend it to three with three minutes remaining, but a key steal by Cardinal freshman Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance HS) set-up junior Brittany Burkhardt (West Bloomfield, Mich./Walled Lake Central HS) for a lay-up to cut the lead to one, at 68-67.  Boston would record another steal 30-seconds later, and was able to call timeout to give SVSU a chance to take the lead.  The Cardinals were unable to connect, however, and a Wildcat free-throw made the score 69-67, which would become the final score as SVSU was unable to get-off a desperation shot.

Burkhardt led the Cardinals in the contest, scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high six rebounds.  Freshman forward Jasmine Kennedy (Harper Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North HS) had 13 points.  Junior forward Rhonda Gusa (Harbor Beach, Mich./Delta Colege) also reached double-figures in scoring, netting 10.  Freshman guard Jasmine Woods (Lansing, Mich./Holt HS) gave SVSU good minutes off the bench, totaling eight points and a game-high six rebounds.