WINONA LAKE, Ind.- In a matchup between two of the top teams in the tournament, the University
of Northwestern women's basketball team stayed in Indiana to take on the Bobcats of the College of
the Ozarks for a lower bracket matchup in the Division I NCCAA Tournament. The number one seed
Bobcats proved to be a tough matchup as the Eagles could not best them as they fell 62-53.
The Bobcats scored the first basket and then jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first two minutes of the
game. After that, Northwestern would not allow the Ozarks to find any more points in the quarter until
their final attempted shot. In between that, the Eagles scored 15 unanswered points, highlighted by
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) scoring the final eight points, including two three pointers. UNW held a 17-8 lead over
COFO at the end of the first.
In the second, after a missed three pointer by the Ozarks, Northwestern would run the shot clock all
the way down before
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) knocked down a three at the buzzer. The Bobcats then
outscored the Eagles 9-2 in the next three minutes as they cut their deficit to five points. Coming off
of a timeout,
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) put away two contested baskets to rebuild the UNW lead to nine
points. However, just like before, COFO started another run, this time it was a 7-0 run to get them
within two. The first half would wrap up with
Megan Roberts (Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy) hitting a couple of free throws to give
Northwestern a 28-24 lead heading into the lockers.
The Eagles shot 33.3 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and knocked down
all six of their attempts from the charity stripe. The big spot for UNW was their rebounding ability,
outrebounding COFO 22-14 including seven offensive rebounds that gave them extra possessions.
Northwestern built their lead up to seven to start the third quarter but the Ozarks brought their deficit
down to a one possession game before eventually taking hold of the lead six minutes into the
quarter. They would hold onto the lead until the end of the quarter as the Eagles now trailed 43-41
entering the final 10 minutes.
Both teams exchanged two baskets to start the final quarter, it would be the Ozarks to break off the
exchange as they found three shots in a row before Northwestern would be able to respond.
Although Roberts was able to hit two three pointers for UNW, the free throw shooting ability of
COFO in the final quarter was good enough to carry them over the finish line as the Eagles fell to the
Bobcats 62-53.
Leading the team in points was Roberts who finished with 20 points and a team leading nine
rebounds to go with her two blocks. Behind her was
Kelsea Lund (Madison, Minn./Lac qui Parle Valley) who was sharp from the free throw
line as she drained all eight of her attempts for a total of 10 points. The passing game was led by
Allison Eide (Farmington, Minn./Christian Life Academy) who dropped five dimes and also stole the ball two times.
The Northwestern women's basketball team have one final game which will be taking place
tomorrow, March 18, at 3:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. CST) as they fight for the seventh place spot. For
