Box Score

ST. PAUL – For the second night in a row, the University of Northwestern women's basketball team saw five players reach double figure scoring totals as the Eagles topped visiting Crown College 97-68 on Saturday. Northwestern held on to a 52-33 half time lead to secure the final outcome by a 97-68 margin, improving its overall season record to 12-4.



The game remained close from tipoff until the 15:11 mark when Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood)'s jumper allowed the Eagles to take a 13-10 lead. Sir doubled the margin the next time down the floor, this time nailing a triple to increase the lead to six. The momentum continued to roll in UNW's favor as the lead was increased to double digits with 11:24 remaining in the period as a result of a trey from Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove).

Fast forward nearly five minutes and Northwestern kicked off an 11-3 run to provide a 46-26 score with three minutes ticking off the clock. Crown would fight back bring the lead security to 16, but a trio of free throws from Kim Campbell (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) and Madson allowed the Eagles to head into the locker room for halftime with a 52-33 upper hand.

The deciding factor in the first half proved to be scoring off the bench as Northwestern won the battle 16-4. Also assisting the cause was a team mark of .500 from the floor, led by Sir's nine points in 14 minutes played.

As the second half kicked off, the fans in the Ericksen Center saw consistency extend from the end of the first half into the final 20 minutes of action. Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) found success down low to increase the margin to 63-35 with 17:07 left, and Hannah Holm (Charlotte, N.C./GRACE School) would once again bring the game to a 28 point different with her triple at the 15:05 mark.

The Purple and Gold's largest lead of the night came first with the clock reading 5:40 to go, and again 29 seconds later with Courtney Cunard (Missouri Valley, Iowa/Missouri Valley)'s layup and a fast break bucket by Campbell sustaining the buffer until the final buzzer sounded with a 97-68 final score.

The Storm saw success from its reserves in the second period, as 15 points were credited to bench scoring. Crown also utilized Northwestern's turnovers and tallied seven points off those chances.

Sir led the scoring charge for UNW with 19 points, and was joined by Madson, Campbell, Holm, and Fife who all netted double-digits at the end of the night. Campbell's total of 16 marked the third time in four games that the sophomore has set a career-high point mark. Also reaching a personal best was Emily VanLith who picked up credit for 13 rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

Northwestern (12-4 overall, 4-1 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) will now return to the practice court for the next week until it travels north to take on the College of St. Scholastica on Friday, January 31 at 5:30 p.m. The next day, the Eagles will travel further north to face Northland College as the squad wraps up its first round of league contests. The UMAC standings currently owns four teams with a 4-1 league record, including both UNW and St. Scholastica.