HAMMOND, Ind. — Purdue Northwest held on to defeat Northern Michigan, 59-56, in a tightly-contested GLIAC women's basketball matchup inside the Fitness & Recreation Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
PNW improved to 4-9 and picked up its second conference win following the hard-fought victory. The Pride snapped a three-game losing streak and also defeated Northern Michigan for the first time in nine matchups with the Wildcats. NMU fell to 7-6 (2-4 GLIAC) on the season.
How it happened: For the third straight game, PNW entered the halftime break tied with its opponent as the Pride and Wildcats were knotted up at 25-25 in the low-scoring affair. PNW led 15-10 after the first quarter — the Pride's first lead after one period in a league game this season — but NMU flipped the script to outscore the Pride 15-10 in the second quarter.
Mercedes Simmons (Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park) was a key contributor in the first half for the Pride, scoring all eight of her points while going 4 of 6 from the field. PNW took a 25-21 lead near the end of the second period following a three made by
Abbie McDowell (Tecumseh, Mich./Tecumseh), but NMU responded to even the score at the break.
Coming out of the halftime break, NMU knocked down a three on the opening possession to claim its first lead since scoring the first basket of the game. The Wildcats would go up by four and stay out in front until
Dash Shaw (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) took over the game for the Pride. Shaw drained back-to-back jumpers to put PNW ahead 37-35 with two-and-a-half minutes left in the third. The Pride never trailed again in the contest as the sophomore guard tallied 12 points in the third quarter alone, and recorded 17 of her team-high 20 points in the second half.
Several players made key plays throughout the game for the Pride.
Kennedy Jackson (Carson, Calif./Redondo Union) banked in a running floater at the third-quarter buzzer to put the Pride ahead 45-40.
Anjel Galbraith (Vallejo, Calif./Salesian College Prep) drilled a 3-pointer and
Reagan Courier (Delavan, Wis./Big Foot) knocked down an elbow jumper at the start of the fourth period, giving the Pride their largest lead of the day, 50-40, with over eight minutes remaining.
However, the Wildcats had one run left in them as the visitors climbed back to make it a one-point game, 51-50, near the three-minute mark. But,
Antreese Shelton (Elkhart, Ind./Penn) stopped the bleeding with a tough layup and the Pride would close out the game at the free throw line.
NMU's Makaylee Kuhn recorded a game-high 26 points on a whopping 24 shot attempts. Kuhn hit three treys and went 5 of 9 at the line. She also led the Wildcats with eight rebounds.
Courier also reached double figures for the Pride with 10 points on a pair of 3-pointers. Shelton and Simmons each finished with eight points.
Both teams struggled at the free throw line as PNW made 14 of 24 (58.3%) and NMU finished 10 of 21 (47.6%).
UP NEXT
PNW is scheduled to host Saginaw Valley State (5 PM) on Thursday and Wayne State (1 PM) on Saturday.
FOLLOW THE PRIDE
For all the latest information on Purdue Northwest Women's Basketball, please visit PNWathletics.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Pride (@pnwathletics & @PNWWBB) on Twitter. You can also find the Pride on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
