CHICAGO – Roosevelt electrified a packed Goodman Center on Saturday afternoon in a heartbreaking 83-82 loss to No. 17 Northern Michigan in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

The first three quarters of the game were challenging for the Lakers (1-5, 0-2 GLIAC) as they could never get over the hump against the Wildcats. Northern Michigan scored the first seven points of the game and as close as Roosevelt would come to tying the game after that, the Wildcats would always have a response.

Northern Michigan led by 12 points after three quarters and wasted little time increasing the lead, with consecutive baskets to start the fourth quarter. Yet a funny thing happened when Kelly Boyle drained a 3-pointer with eight minutes left in the game to cut the lead to 13. All of a sudden, Roosevelt was getting defensive stops and a seemingly insurmountable deficit became attainable.

The Lakers reeled off 12 straight points in 2:22, capped off with a 3-point play from Isabella Pitta. A minute later, the Lakers forced a shot clock violation on the Wildcats, and Isabel Lindo came out of the media timeout to drain a 3. An offensive foul gave Roosevelt the ball again and just 3:58 after trailing by 16, the Lakers led by a point on a Pitta layup.

Boyle gave the raucous crowd even more to cheer about when she drained a transition 3-pointer off a Lindo steal to put Roosevelt ahead 74-70. Pitta scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and Boyle added 9 on 3 of 5 shooting from long range to help spark the comeback. Boyle also added four assists in the final 10 minutes to complete a 40-minute effort with 17 points and five helpers.

The game turned against the Lakers with 1:45 remaining when Aubrey Leonard was called for a foul on a Northern Michigan 3-pointer. Although it looked like the Wildcats may have initiated the contact on the play, the three free throws gave Northern Michigan the lead and it never relinquished it.

The Lakers scored 32 points in the fourth quarter, matching their best quarter from last season. Roosevelt scored eight points in transition and eight more points off turnovers in the final 10 minutes to finish with 15 points off turnovers and 12 fastbreak points. It also added 20 second-chance points off 15 offensive rebounds, most of which came in the first half to help the Lakers keep pace with Northern Michigan.

Leonard had her potential breakout game as a freshman with 13 points, two assists and five rebounds in a career-high 26 minutes. The Rosendale, Wis. native played every second of the fourth quarter, continuing to earn trust with hard work on both ends of the floor. She ended the game with a bang, knocking down a buzzer-beater to surpass her season total in points after entering the game with 11.

Pitta led the five Roosevelt scorers in double figures with 21 points and came up a rebound shy of another double-double. Lindo had 11 points and Marie Outlay scraped together 10 points while also acting as a defensive stopper to shut down the Wildcats' top scorers when she was guarding them. Roosevelt had a season-low nine turnovers, a mark they haven't hit in 366 days after committing just nine turnovers on Dec. 5, 2024 against Lake Superior State.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt will focus on finals for the next week before returning to action Dec. 14 at UIS in Springfield to kick off a three-game week to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.