Box Score DECORAH, Iowa – A balanced scoring attack and positive strides in the box score helped keep the Northwestern women's basketball team within grasp of Friday's non-conference contest with Luther College, but a strong second half pushed the Norse past the Eagles, 70-57.

Northwestern trailed early but tied the game at 10-10 after Courtney Cunard (Missouri Valley, Iowa/Missouri Valley), Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo), and Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) all rallied to put the Eagles in double digits at the 16:14 mark. Luther continued to hold the upper hand, at one point by as much as 14 before a pair of triples by Cunard and Sir gave the visitors some momentum heading into halftime down 36-30.

The second half saw more of the same Norse squad stretching out its positive increment while the Eagles continued to chip away at various points. The home team had 13-point leads twice within the first 10 minutes of the period but the freshman duo of Cunard and Kim Campbell (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) made up for lost ground and fought to bring the matchup back within reach. Campbell scored three consecutive Northwestern field goals which cut Luther's advantage to nine with just over10 minutes remaining in the contest. Unfortunately for the visiting team on the scoreboard, nine points was as close as NWC would get due to unanswered makes on the Norse end of the court and the Purple and Gold left the hardwood with a 57-70 deficit.

On a positive note, Northwestern (2-5 overall) had four of its five starters post double-digit scoring nights, with Cunard and Sir leading the way after tallying 15 points apiece, a career high for Cunard. Campbell also posted a career night, chipping in 10 of her own while Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) contributed 10 points and six rebounds to the Eagle's efforts.

As a team, NWC matched Luther's 40% success rate from beyond the arc but made 10 triples in comparison to the home team's two. The Eagles also committed less turnovers, while the Norse utilized a large 42-10 margin in points in the paint and found the net 27 times en route to a .47 field goal percentage.

Next up for NWC is a 5:30 p.m. non-conference matchup with Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) opponent North Central University on Tuesday, December 11, followed by its final home contest of the 2012 portion of the season on Friday, December 14 at 5 p.m.versus Hamline University.