Following back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and a 23-win campaign, the Northern Michigan women’s basketball team has been picked to finish second in the GLIAC Preseason Poll. In addition, senior standout Jacy Weisbrod has also been selected to the Preseason All-GLIAC First Team.
The Wildcats enter 2025-26 with momentum after tying the program’s best win total since 2000-01 and reaching the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 for the second straight season. Under head coach Casey Thousand, now in her fourth year at the helm, NMU finished 23-9 overall and 15-5 in GLIAC play a season ago, earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Thousand owns a 60-32 (.652) overall record in Marquette and has guided the Wildcats to consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in over two decades.
Weisbrod returns as one of the league’s premier perimeter threats after earning All-GLIAC First Team and D2CCA All-Midwest Region Second Team honors last year. The senior guard averaged a team-best 13.4 points per game and led the GLIAC in three-point shooting with 2.86 makes per contest, ranking sixth nationally. She tallied seven games of 23 or more points and caught fire late in the season, hitting 14 triples over back-to-back games against Purdue Northwest and Saginaw Valley State.
Joining Weisbrod on the perimeter is fellow senior Sarah Newcomer, an All-GLIAC Second Teamer. A steady two-way contributor, Newcomer started all 32 games a season ago, averaging 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game while ranking second on the team with 61 made threes. Several other key contributors from last season return in Alyssa Hill, CJ Romero, and Sydney Whitehouse.
The 2025-26 schedule offers both early tests and marquee home matchups for the Green and Gold. NMU will open the season November 7-9 in Erie, Pennsylvania, before traveling to Wisconsin Dells for a familiar two-game set the following weekend. The Wildcats will make their home debut at Vandament Arena on November 20 against St. Cloud State, followed by a meeting with Minnesota Duluth. Conference play begins December 4 at Parkside, with Northern hosting 13 home contests overall.
With experience and key leadership returning, Northern Michigan enters the 2025-26 campaign aiming to remain among the GLIAC’s elite and make another deep postseason run.
