MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team fell to Northern Michigan University tonight (Jan. 17), 67-57 on the road in the Upper Peninsula. The loss drops SVSU to 6-8 overall and 4-6 in the GLIAC, while NMU improves to 9-6 on the year and 6-5 in the conference.

The Saginaw Valley offense came out firing on all cylinders in the first ten minutes of play after the long road trip to Marquette. The Cardinals connected on seven of their first ten shot attempts to gain the 19-9 advantage midway through the first half.

The SVSU shooters cooled off a bit during the final ten minutes of the first half, but their defense remained aggressive holding Northern Michigan to just 34.7 percent shooting at halftime as the Cardinals led 30-24.

Freshman Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich.) was a dominant force in the first half as she recorded 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line.

Northern Michigan slowly cut into the SVSU advantage before taking the lead for the first time in the contest with nine minutes to play in the contest, 46-45.

For the next few minutes, the contest was a back-and-forth battle featuring a number of small lead changes. However, the Wildcats took control on both ends of the floor during the final five minutes of play to come away with the 67-57 victory. Northern outscored SVSU 43-27 in the second half.

The second half was a reversal of fortunes for Saginaw Valley as Northern Michigan fired 56.5 percent from the field, while the Cardinals managed just 34.6 percent. The Wildcats controlled the glass by a 36-22 margin in the contest, including a 14-7 edge on the offensive boards which led to an 18-7 advantage in second chance points.

Emily Wendling earned Meijer 'Player of the Game' honors with a career-high 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) chipped in with 10 points of her own in the loss.

Both squads featured stellar free throw shooting as the Cardinals went 16-for-18 (88.9 percent) from the stripe, while the Wildcats cashed in on 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) opportunities.

Saginaw Valley will be back in action when they travel to Houghton to battle Michigan Tech on Saturday (Jan. 19) at 3:00 PM.