ST. PAUL, Minn- The Northwestern women's basketball team hosted the Crown College Storm for the first round of the UMAC Tournament Wednesday evening in the Ericksen Center. Northwestern extended their winning streak to 13 with an 81-59 win over the Storm. The Eagles made 10 three pointers while dishing out 19 assists as a team in the victory.
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) got the ball rolling as she put away a layup to start the game off. After a responding bucket from the Storm, the Eagles knocked down a couple of more shots to take a 7-2 lead two and a half minutes into the game. A big run for Northwestern occurred in the final three minutes as they outscored Crown 13-2 to take a 28-11 lead at the end of the first.
UNW shot 9-for-11 in the first quarter, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc as well as 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
The second quarter saw the Eagles jump on an early 8-2 run, highlighted by
Kelsea Lund (Madison, Minn./Lac qui Parle Valley) hitting back-to-back threes. Crown found themselves on their own 8-3 run in the middle of the second before Northwestern closed out the quarter with two more three pointers to take a 45-23 lead into half.
In the opening half, UNW shot 57.1 percent from the field, hit eight of their three pointer attempts for a hot 66.7 percent, and found 83 percent of the free throw attempts in the basket. The passing game was on point as the Eagles had 11 assists while their defense stood strong with four blocks and four steals.
The second half told the same story as the first as the Eagles closed the game out. The third quarter saw
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) hit back-to-back threes along with a layup for Northwestern. UNW held a lead of at least 16 points throughout the entirety of the second half as they took the contest with a final of 81-59.
In the end, the Eagles shot 53.4 percent overall, 52.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe. They continued to pass the rock as the team finished with 19 assists while adding to their defensive stats with a total of five blocks and nine steals.
Lund led the team in both scoring and assists with 19 points and six dimes. Trailing behind her in points were
Ashlyn Jones (New London, Minn./New London - Spicer) and Hagen who had 16 and 13 apiece. Leading the team in rebounds was
Megan Roberts (Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy) who brought down seven while swatting away a team leading three shots.
Northwestern will be advancing in the UMAC Tournament on Friday hosting North Central University for some Semifinal action. Tip-off is set for 5:30 pm. For all things UNW women's basketball, visit www.unweagles.com or follow them on social media @unwwbb.
