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MINNEAPOLIS -- Tied 58-58 with less than five minutes to go, Northwestern College's Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) scored seven straight points for her team to create a buffer and hold off North Central University by six on Tuesday evening. The win was the Eagles' third this season with one game remaining on NWC's schedule before Christmas break.

While neither team gained an early advantage, Northwestern was having to keep pace with the Rams before Kasie Shoberg (Chisago City, Minn./Chisago Lakes) sparked a 14-3 Eagles run over the course of five minutes. Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) made back-to-back jumpers in the paint during the run and a Madson layup gave NWC a 29-22 lead with 6:57 to play in the first half. Kristin Sczublewski (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) extended the advantage to nine with a three-pointer before the Purple and Gold went into the locker room on the winning side of a 43-37 margin.

North Central cut Northwestern's lead to a mere point over the course of the first three and a half minutes of the second half, and the two teams went back and forth  with the Eagles winning by two before North Central led by one. With the 58-58 tie at the 4:58 mark, it was anyone's game until Madson took over and ultimately put the Eagles at the free throw line with North Central having to foul. When the final buzzer sounded, NWC won 69-63.

After making almost half of its shots in the first half, the Eagles struggled at 29 percent in the second before leveling out at 37 percent for the game. Northwestern posted a season low 10 rebounds compared to 15 assists while outscoring the Rams 22-12 in points off of turnovers.

Madson scored a game-high 22 points, notching a new career high for the fourth consecutive game. Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) was good for her fourth double-double of the 2011 season, scoring 19 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) made half of her attempts from behind the three-point line to add 12 points to Northwestern's offensive attack.

Elisabeth Trickey had 19 points to lead North Central (2-8).

Now 3-5 this season, the Eagles will sneak one more game in before taking a week off. Northwestern will host Augsburg College on Saturday at 7 p.m. before shifting its attention to a post-Christmas tournament in Thousand Oaks, California.