ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's basketball team hosted the Storm of Crown College Saturday afternoon inside the Ericksen Center. It was electric as the crowd was filled with prospecting students thanks to Hoops Hysteria. The Eagles quickly calmed the Storm, taking the victory 75-49, improving their record to 14-5 (9-1 UMAC) and extending their winning streak to eight games.
Megan Roberts (Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy) got the scoring going for both teams with a layup in the first minute. From there on out, both teams heavily traded shots as no one found more than a basket lead. It was tied 13-13 before a last second layup by Crown grabbed them a two point lead at the end of the first.
Northwestern came out hot in the second quarter as they went on 13-0 run in the first four minutes to take an 11 point lead. Crown responded with their own little 5-0 run to cut into the lead before the teams would exchange the last few buckets to end the half. UNW held onto a 32-24 lead going into halftime.
It was the hot hand in the second quarter that brought Northwestern's shooting percentage to 44.4 percent at the half. Their defense was just as dominant as the Storm were only able to shoot 28.9 percent from the field, including 15.4 percent from the three-point line.
Keeping the hot starts going, a quick 6-0 run for the Eagles built their lead up to 14 points early on in the third. Crown responded with a three pointer before another 6-0 run happened to give UNW a 17 point lead. This would be the biggest lead in the quarter for Northwestern as Crown scored the final basket of the quarter to cut the lead to 15 points, 50-35.
The final quarter was the most dominant quarter for the Eagles as they put up 25 points to take the game 75-49.
Shooting 50 percent for an entire game is something to admire as the women's basketball team did exactly that, hitting 50.8 percent of their total shots, 27.8 percent of their threes, and 62.5 percent of their free throws. They dominated on the boards once again in this game, winning the battle 44-31. Defense was prevalent for both teams as they forced each other to turn the ball over 16 times. However, the Eagles scored 26 points off turnovers while the Storm could only capitalize with eight points.
Leading the team in both points and assists was Roberts who finished the game with 15 points and four assists. Right behind her in points was
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) who shot 100 percent from the field, hitting all five of her shots for 12 points. Leading the team in rebounds was
Hailey Paup (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Concordia Academy), who had 10 boards and eight points while
Allison Eide (Farmington, Minn./Christian Life Academy) trailed right behind her with seven boards of her own to go with her six points.
The Eagles will get some time off before they head back out onto the road to take on the Lumberjills of Northland College. That game will be taking place on Friday, February 11 at 5:30 p.m. For all things UNW women's basketball, visit www.unweagles.com or follow them on social media @unwwbb.
