Box Score

ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern women's basketball team continued its season trend of well-rounded offensive action Friday night, as the Eagles' five starters combined for 64 points to earn a 81-74 victory over the University of Minnesota Morris. Two players with double-doubles, including a career-high 18 points from Courtney Cunard (Missouri Valley, Iowa/Missouri Valley) allowed Northwestern to erase a deficit at halftime and earn its 11th win of the season.



The home team on the board trailed early as the Cougars jumped out to an 8-0 lead thanks in part to a pair of triples from Kendra Wycoff. Fast forward less than a minute later, and the lead was at nine as Wycoff made it a trio from behind the arc.

The Eagles would eventually battle back and tie the game at 13-13 with a successful Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) free throw with 15:27 left in the first half, and another make from the junior would hand UNW its first lead of the contest.

A scoring drought ensued for the next two minutes, but a Cunard trey increased the Purple and Gold's lead to a pair at 17-15. The minutes began to tick by featuring an exchange of scoring from both squads with neither team owning more than a single possession lead. Queue the 6:43 mark, however, and a 12-4 run in favor of UMM meant Northwestern faced another deficit.

With 2:28 left to play in the first period, the Cougars held their largest lead of the half, 40-30. Cunard and Tiffany Stubbs (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) proved the Eagles were far from rolling over and took credit for the final five points of the half to bring the contest within four at 42-38 as the teams headed to intermission.

As the second half kicked off, UNW continued to trail the visitors, once again down by double-digits with 16:38 left in the ballgame. Signs of life appeared in spurts and a 9-0 kickstarted by Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo)'s jumper and capped off with a #Madson# fast break make would bring the margin to 50-51 six minutes in.

From that point on, the Eagles began to consistently hang around and own an advantage with a double-possession upper hand coming with the clock reading 7:26. A pair of Fife charity stripe makes increased the security blanket to six points, but another Minnesota Morris triple once again brought the game up for grabs with 3:17 left to play.

Thankfully for the Snelling Avenue North crew the end of the game worked in its favor, and five final points from Cunard would seal the deal at 81-74.
 
Both Cunard and Fife secured double-doubles with 18 and 12 points respectively combined with their 10 rebounds a piece. Rounding out the starting quintet were Madson, Holm, and Sir who each reached double digits with 34 points as a group.

The Eagles found success around the hoop with credit for 46 boards in comparison to their opponents' 38. While the Cougars owned the field goal percentage battle, 26 successful free throws helped the cause of the home team.
 
With the final outcome, UNW picked up its first win against UMM since February 27, 2009, a stretch that spanned nine contests.

Northwestern (11-4 overall, 3-1 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) will end its weekend at home as it takes on Crown College on Saturday evening. A 5 p.m. tipoff is slated for the contest which can be followed live here.