DULUTH, Minn.— The  University of Northwestern women's basketball team earned their second Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game against the College of St. Scholastica Friday night. The Eagles defeated the Saints 66-55.

Northwestern took off right out of the gates with a quick nine point lead over the home team, including 7 points from Jacki Smith (Shoreview, Minn./Concordia Academy) alone. The Saints slowly started putting points on the board as both teams exchanged baskets to put the score at 16-8 with seven minutes into the first half. Freshman Jessica Cole (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) increased UNW's lead with three consecutive three-pointers on the Eagles' behalf. St. Scholastica held their own, narrowing their point deficit to three with 7:15 left in the half, before both teams were tied with 25 points just over the six minute mark. With both teams battling it out, Northwestern led by one going into the second period with a score of 31-30.

Scholastica took their first lead of the game with the first basket of the half by Mariah Hovick's. Tiffany Stubbs (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) responded with a shot from downtown at the 18:42 mark. CSS used momentum in their favor as they grew their lead to seven points 16 minutes into the game before UNW would control the game for the remaining few minutes. Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove)'s three-pointer was the first of many shots from the visiting team as took the lead with six minutes on the clock. With two additional Madson threes in the last minute of play, four Regan Cooper (Pella, Iowa/Pella) free throws secured a 14 point lead for Northwestern in the final seconds. CSS's Kelsey Sorenson made one last shot from behind the arc with 26 seconds on the clock to end the game with a 66-55 victory for the away team.

Stand-outs for the Eagles included senior Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) with 19 points. Regan Cooper (Pella, Iowa/Pella) earned a double double for the night with 11 rebounds and 11 points. Jessica Cole (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) also added 11 of her own, 9 from the three point line. The Eagles shot 50 percent behind the arc compared to the Saints' 25.9 percent.

The top shooters for the Saints, Mariah Hovick (18) and Kelsey Sorenson (11), weren't enough to carry the team, shooting 28.4 percent of field goals, versus the Eagles' 42 percent.

Hoping to improve their 2-0 conference record, the Eagles (6-7 overall) will finish off the weekend in Ashland, Wisconsin as they take on Northland College tomorrow at 3 p.m.