MARQUETTE — Trailing by 20 points early in the fourth quarter, No. 12 Northern Michigan mounted a furious late rally, using a 16-2 run to pull within six points with two minutes remaining, but No. 1 Grand Valley State converted when it mattered most down the stretch to secure a 78-66 victory on Saturday at Vandament Arena.

In front of a near-capacity crowd, the Wildcats finally found momentum after struggling to generate sustained offense for much of the night. Northern’s run was its first stretch of more than five unanswered points in the game, trimming a 65-45 deficit to 67-61 and putting real pressure on the nation’s top-ranked team. The Lakers, however, broke the press and delivered at the free-throw line to halt the comeback and close out the win.

Addison Pytleski delivered a career night for the Wildcats, scoring a career-high 18 points while sinking both triples. She poured in nine of her points in the fourth quarter, including an and-one and a key three during the late surge. Pytleski also co-led Northern with six rebounds alongside Jordyn Schmittdiel, who finished with 11 points. Sarah Newcomer added 11 points of her own to give NMU three players in double figures.

Grand Valley was paced by Upper Peninsula native Nicole Kamin, who co-led the Lakers with 20 points on an efficient 6-10 shooting performance, including a perfect 3-3 from deep. Mackenzie Bisballe matched her with 20 points and added 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Paige VanStee anchored the glass with 11 rebounds as the Lakers held a 45-33 rebounding advantage.

Northern drops its first conference game of the season and moves to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in GLIAC play. Grand Valley State remains unbeaten at 12-0 and 4-0 in the league.

Up next: The Wildcats will travel to Houghton on Thursday to take on rival Michigan Tech at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.