Decorah, Iowa— The University of Northwestern women's basketball team lost 72-60 to Luther College on Saturday afternoon as they struggled to take the lead over the Norse. Despite the results, Northwestern finished with a better FG shooting percentage with 43.2 percent for FGs, compared to Luther's 35.7 percent. UNW's 36.4 percentage of 3PTs was slightly behind LC's 38.7.

Tiffany Stubbs (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) was the first to score as she drained a three-pointer in the first seven seconds, but Luther responded right away with four consecutive baskets, putting the Norse up 11-3. Northwestern pulled two treys of their own, narrowing their nine point deficit to 9-11 with just under 14 minutes on the clock. The home team started to slowly rack their points going from a two point lead at 12:22 to a ten point lead at 08:52. Eagles' Jessica Cole (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) contributed a trey, her second of the night, but the Eagles collectively struggled to narrow the margin as they finished the half down 22-37. Luther earned 13 points off of the Eagles' turnovers in the half, contributing to their first period success.

The second session started in a neutral battle back-and-forth among the two competitors as the Eagles were able to hold of the Norse's heat until six minutes into the half, when the home team's smaller lead grew to a 51-34 lead. With 13:40 left in the game, the Norse reached their largest lead of 20 points over UNW. It wasn't until five minutes later when the Eagles gained momentum with five consecutive baskets by Regan Cooper (Pella, Iowa/Osseo), Emily Van Lith (Minot, N.D./Our Redeemers), and Tiffany Stubbs (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian), bringing the score to 47-59. Cole kept things going adding two more three-pointers, but Northwestern's freshman couldn't carry the team towards the end. As the Purple and Gold tried to hold off the Luther offense, they couldn't make up for the amount of runs needed to gain the lead. With Saturday's 72-60 victory over the Eagles, Luther improved their overall record to 7-1.

Luther tied their program's three point record with a total of 12 shots behind the arc for the afternoon. Top shooters for the Norse included Moran Lonning (20), Meagan Koepnick (17), and Anna Madrigal (15) with one solo block from Koepnick and a combined total of seven steals from Lonning and Koepnick.

Freshman Jessica Cole (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) and junior Regan Cooper (Pella, Iowa/Osseo) led the pack with 15 points apiece, with Chanel Madsen adding 12 of her own. With only one block for the afternoon, the Eagles struggled to put up a strong defense against Luther's strong shooters.

Northwestern (4-5) will play again on Thursday night at Augsburg College at 7 p.m. in Minneapolis. The Eagles will host Gustavus Adolphus College on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Ericksen Center.