SUPERIOR, WIS. – The University of Northwestern women's basketball team traveled to take on the Yellowjackets for the UMAC semifinal on Wednesday night. This marked the teams' third meeting of the season, with both teams having won on their home court. The winner would advance to the Championship round on Saturday, with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. Overcoming a 16 point deficit at half, the Eagles were unable to defeat the Yellowjackets, falling in a 90-83 final.

With the loss, Northwestern ends the season with a 16-10 overall record, while Superior rises to 18-8 this year. The Yellowjackets will move on to the UMAC Championship, which will be held at Bethany Lutheran on Saturday.

UWS took an early 5-0 lead before Brooklyn DeKam (Edgerton, Minn./Southwest MN Christian) would drain a three from downtown. Superior made another seven point run to put Northwestern in a tough spot in the opening quarter. They managed to by 10 (20-10) after the opneing 10 minutes of action.

Northwestern battled in the second, lessing the quarter deficit to six point to enter the half down 43-27.

The Eagles quickly changed the game's momentum following the break, coming out of the gates with an eight point run to cut the Yellowjacket lead to six. Northwestern would cut the UWS lead to as little as four in the third quarter. Hailey Paup (North Oaks, Minn./Concordia Academy) scored with time expiring in the third to send the Eagles into the final quarter down, 61-55.

The fourth quarter featured an all out battle. Just one minute into action, Brooklyn DeKam (Edgerton, Minn./Southwest MN Christian) would hit a three to pull UNW within one. Seconds later, a Rio Landers (Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow) three-pointer put the Eagles up by two, handing them their first lead of the night. In a series of back-and-forth scoring, the teams were tied for almost two minutes at 68 a piece before a pair of Superior free throws would give them the go-ahead lead.

The Yellowjackets scored a bucket in the paint to go up on the Eagles by five with a minute and a half remaining. Although Northwestern continued to score, they were unable to overcome the late game deficit, falling in a heartbreaking 90-83 loss.

UNW scored 11 points off turnovers just in the third quarter, along with 20 second chance points. Both Rio Landers (Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow) and Brooklyn DeKam (Edgerton, Minn./Southwest MN Christian) ended with 21 points (adding 7 and 6 rebounds, respectively). Kelsea Lund (Madison, Minn./La qui Parle Valley) had 13 points and Miranda Crenshaw (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) added 10.

For all information UNW women's basketball visit www.unweagles.com or follow on Instagram and Twitter at @unwwbb.