Box Score

NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped by Martin Luther College on Friday night as the Knights held on to an 88-82 victory. Trailing by 10 with 3:10 to play, the Eagles cut the MLC advantage to as little as two, but the Knights made enough free throws in the end to hand UNW its first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) defeat of the season.

Martin Luther's 12 offensive rebounds in the initial 20 minutes allowed the Knights to score 50 first half points. The home team held a slim lead that was exchanged with Northwestern on a couple occasions throughout a majority of the period, but six straight MLC points in the final 3:16 led to a 50-39 buffer for the Knights at halftime.

That seven- to 12-point margin in the Knights' favor hung around for much of the second half as Rebecca Engelbrecht – Martin Luther's go-to dual sport athlete – continued to find space in the paint. Engelbrecht finished 7-10 shooting with eight rebounds, becoming one of five MLC players to record 10 or more points. The Knights lead reached 15 at the 6:19 mark of the period before Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo)'s offensive production and a full court press spurred an Eagles run that shrunk the MLC advantage all the way down to two points. With Martin Luther defending UNW's perimeter shooters well, Fife – despite a double team of own – produced 15 points in the final four minutes en route to setting a new career high 32 points in the game.

Unfortunately for Northwestern, whose momentum was gaining in the final minute, the Eagles ran out of time. The Knights' Brittany Gossen made five of her 12 free throws in the last 30 seconds to help Martin Luther stave the Eagles off.

UNW's 51 percent shooting performance was actually 10 percent better than the Knights on the night, but Martin Luther finished with eight more rebounds – grabbing 23 offensive boards – to help produce second chance points. After Fife's 32 point output, Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) added 19 points for the Eagles, with Kim Campbell (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) contributing a career high 13 points of her own.

Gossen had 22 points to lead Martin Luther, with Hackbarth matching Engelbrecht's 16-point performance. A combined 44 fouls between the two teams led to 57 attempts at the charity stripe.

Northwestern (9-4, 1-1 UMAC) will try to get back in the win column on Saturday afternoon when the Eagles play Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn. in another league affair. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. in the Vikings' Sports and Fitness Center.