AU Women Fall to ‘Cats, 85-72
January 2, 2003

Complete Box Score

Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser both had impressive shutout streaks during their baseball careers. Both, however, take a back seat to the Northern Michigan women’s basketball teams.

The ‘Cats continue to pitch a shutout against the Eagles. Their streak isn’t measured in innings – it’s tabulated in years. Thursday night (Jan. 2) in Marquette, MI, the Wildcats dropped an 85-72 setback on the Eagles. Ashland has never beaten Northern Michigan. The Cats hold a 10-0 lead in the series.

This looked like the game where all that would change. NMU came into the contest at 4-4, 1-1 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. Plus, in the final game of the 2001-2002 season, the Eagles and Wildcats went into overtime in the first round of the GLIAC playoffs before NMU came away with an 84-80 triumph. Guard Marisa DellAngelo, who led the Wildcats in that game, has graduated.

Even without DellAngelo, the ‘Cats showed the Eagles they could still shoot the ball effectively. NMU hit 36 of 64 shots from the floor (56.3 percent). The home team led at halftime, 42-28. Maybe the Eagles should have resorted to all-out fouling. As well as the ‘Cats shot from the floor, they were ice cold at the free throw line. At the charity stripe, NMU hit a frigid 42.1 percent (8-19).

Jessica Nohl led the winners with 23 points and five steals. Tiffany Grubaugh had 19 points and handed out four assists.

AU was led by sophomore guard-forward Beth Everman. She had a career-high 27 points and was the only AU player to reach double digits in scoring. Everman also had a team-best seven rebounds. Freshman Nicole Wright came off the bench to snare six missed shots.

The loss leaves the Eagles at 7-5, 2-1 in GLIAC play. Thursday’s game was the first of a three-game swing to Michigan Upper Peninsula. Saturday (Jan. 4, 1 p.m.), the Eagles will visit Michigan Tech.