MANKATO, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's basketball team hit the road for Thursday night UMAC action against conference-leading, Bethany Lutheran. After suffering from a slow offensive start, the Eagles were unable to overcome the scoring gap despite a much stronger second-half performance. Northwestern fell to the Vikings, 81-59 in final scoring - handing Bethany its seventh straight win.
The Eagles shot just 23% from the field in the first 20 minutes to fall behind 36-19. Bethany Lutheran connected on six three-pointers including three from sophomore guard Abby Olson to gain momentum.
The Vikings continued to pour in the points, going up by as much as 28 points midway through the third quarter. The Eagles fought back, shooting an impressive 58% from the field to put together their best offensive quarter in the fourth – outscoring the Vikings 22 to 18.
Northwestern's second half scoring efforts were led by senior
Amy Berglund (Springfield, Va./West Springfield). Berglund scored 12 of her 13 points following intermission, and also pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
Freshman guard
Brooklyn DeKam (Edgerton, Minn./Southwest MN Christian) came off the bench to score nine points and dish out four assists.
Kelsea Lund (Madison, Minn./La qui Parle Valley) and
Rio Landers (Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow) also added nine points on the night.
Northwestern falls to 9-11 overall, 6-5 in the UMAC. The all-time head to head series against Bethany moves to 23-8 (Eagles lead), while the Vikings have taken the last three straight. Bethany improves to 17-4, 11-1 in the UMAC.
Northwestern will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 2 when they welcome Northland to the Ericksen Center for Hoops Hysteria. The Lumberjills enter the match-up with a 5-12 overall record (2-9 UMAC). The Eagles defeated Northland, 76-55 on Jan. 2 of this season. Don't miss the Northwestern women's alumni game that will tip-off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
For all things Northwestern women's hoops, follow along at
www.unweagles.com.
