Box Score

ST. PAUL -- The Northwestern College women's basketball team didn't disappoint its near-capacity Hoops Hysteria crowd as the Eagles handed the College of St. Scholastica a 69-54 loss on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles built off of a seven-point halftime lead while scoring 27 points off of 24 St. Scholastica turnovers.

NWC quickly ran out to a 6-0 lead, prompting Saints head coach Stacy Deadrick to take an early timeout. Fresh off of her 38-point performance on Friday night against Northland College, Katie DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) drained a three-point shot to push the Eagles' lead to 9-0 before St. Scholastica went on a 10-2 run to cut NWC's lead to one. Emily Henslin (Dodge Center, Minn./Triton)'s (Dodge Center, Minn./Triton) layup at the 9:47 mark capped off a response from Northwestern, earning the home team a 21-12 advantage before the Eagles went into the locker room with a 32-25 lead at the break.

St. Scholastica made a push midway through the second half tying the score on three occasions. The Saints rally rubbed DeWitt the wrong way, as she scored 11 straight points in a minute and a half before Kristin Sczublewski (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) made a layup to give the Purple and Gold an 11-point edge. Soon thereafter, Northwestern found itself at the free throw line, where the team has made nearly 80 percent of its attempts throughout the UMAC schedule, before the final buzzer sounded with a 69-54 score.

While the Eagles won by 15, they didn't have their best shooting performance of the season, making 41 percent of their attempts from the floor. St. Scholastica virtually matched NWC in shooting, but it was the turnovers that cost the Saints, with the Eagles committing just 14 compared to 18 assists.

DeWitt led all players with 24 points, 17 of which came in the second half. The senior was 7-14 from the field while adding eight made free throws and five assists. Megan Myhre (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) quietly went 5-7 on the night for 12 points for Northwestern. St. Scholastica (5-11, 2-3 UMAC) was paced by Taylor Fellbaum's 17 points.

Now 7-9 on the season, Northwestern has won two straight to go 3-2 in conference play. The Eagles will practice most of next week before hosting Martin Luther College on Friday, Jan. 29. Tip-off in the Ericksen Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.