ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern won its sixth consecutive game on Friday with a 74-55 victory over Crown College on Friday evening. The win sets up a showdown between the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference's two remaining unbeaten teams – Northwestern and the University of Minnesota Morris – in the league's game of the week on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Morris, Minn.

Northwestern's 47-point output in the first half, the Eagles' second highest half of scoring this season, put UNW in the driver's seat, backed by a 59 percent shooting rate and a 10-of-16 success rate from behind the three-point line. Northwestern didn't waste any time to put points on the board, running out to a 10-0 lead before the host-Storm could find a basket on its half of the court. Four different UNW players scored in those initial five minutes, a trend that would continue throughout the rest of the game.

Crown kept the margin between six and 11 points throughout much of the first period before Jessica Cole (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) started a 19-point swing that put the Eagles comfortably in front. Northwestern used five consecutive makes from downtown to go ahead 40-15 with 4:48 to play in the half. With the halftime difference at 17, UNW maintained that gap with its second and third string in the game before finishing with a 74-55 win in hand.

Of the 11 Eagles that saw action in the game, five scored in double figures with Regan Cooper (Pella, Iowa/Pella)'s double-double performance of 15 points and 11 rebounds leading the way. As a team, UNW finished the game with a 43 percent shooting rate, going just 9 of 31 from the floor in the second half.  Cooper, Cole and Jacki Smith (Shoreview, Minn./Concordia Academy) all finished with favorable personal shooting percentages. Cole went 3-3, with Cooper missing just one of her seven attempts and Smith going 4-6 with a perfect 2-2 from downtown.

Crown, who drops to 1-16 overall following the loss, received 20 points from Jessica Klaustermeie, nine of which came from the free throw line. Desiree Davis had a team-best nine rebounds for the Storm.

The win puts Northwestern at 10-7 overall (6-0 UMAC). Saturday's meeting between the Eagles and Cougars will mark the first time since the 2014 UMAC Tournament Championship that the two teams have met. Each team won on their home court in last year's two regular season meetings before Northwestern claimed the UMAC finale to earn a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament.