Box Score

ST. PAUL – The Northwestern College women's basketball team officially earned a berth in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) postseason tournament on Friday evening with a 64-46 victory over Presentation College. Despite playing without their leading scorer in Katie DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial), the Eagles chalked up their eighth straight win behind four individual double-digit scoring performances.

Northwestern never let its opponent lead in the game that featured a pair of early ties before the Eagles established a nine-point lead with eight minutes left to play in the first half. Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) started a 7-0 run with a three-pointer before Allison Johnson (Plymouth, Minn./Heritage Christian) (Plymouth, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) and Emily Henslin (Dodge Center, Minn./Triton) (Dodge Center, Minn./Triton) followed with back-to-back layups. Six minutes later, Sir kissed one off of the glass to send the Eagles into the locker room with a 31-17 halftime lead.

Three-pointers from Kristin Sczublewski (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) (Pierz, Minn./;Pierz) and Tanya Dickey (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake) (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake) boosted Northwestern's advantage to 18 before a Kelsey Kosman (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) layup gave the home team a 21-point lead with 13:33 to play. Sir made another of her four threes to give the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at 27 points before the final score was settled at 64-46.

Northwestern made 46 percent of its attempts at 24-52 while draining nine of 20 shots from downtown for a 45 percent rate. The Eagles played tough on defense too, holding Presentation to 25 percent shooting while forcing 15 turnovers.

NWC never panicked without the injured DeWitt, whose status for Saturday's game against the University of Minnesota-Morris is questionable. Sir, who got the starting nod in the senior's place, went 5-10 overall and 4-8 from behind the arc for 16 points. Dickey and Johnson each followed with 11 points, while Megan Myhre (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) added 10 points to go with seven rebounds. Sczublewski chipped in seven points and five assists in 25 minutes.

Nicky Rausch led Presentation (8-14, 3-8 UMAC) with 13 points while Kelli Boekelheide grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Eagles solidly remain in second place in the UMAC standings at 9-2 (13-9 overall), three games ahead of Martin Luther College and Northland College. One more conference victory would earn NWC the right to host a first-round game in the UMAC tournament. The first opportunity for that win will be a battle, as Minnesota-Morris is unbeaten in league play this season. Tip-off on Saturday is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.