ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team continued its strong non-conference play Monday night in the Ericksen Center, defeating Buena Vista University 74-58 to claim its fifth consecutive victory. The matchup was the conclusion of a home-and-home series this season for the two schools. Northwestern picked up an 82-59 win at Buena Vista on November 14
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Round two of the season series was much tighter for most of the contest.
Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) kicked off the scoring with a driving layup late in the shot clock and followed that up with a picture-perfect bounce pass to
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) for an easy layup to put UNW ahead 4-0.
Buena Vista settled down after calling a timeout, going on a 5-0 run, but
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) put the Eagles back in front with a strong, driving layup. BVU responded with an 8-2 run to pull ahead 13-8, but
Andrea Pocernich (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell-Wright) answered with a corner three to cut the lead to two. Sondrol, who was coming off career-high point totals in back-to-back games, made consecutive layups (the second courtesy of a Sondrol offensive rebound) to give UNW a 15-14 advantage.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) came off the bench to score the next seven Northwestern points and give the Eagles a 22-19 edge after the first quarter.
The Eagles began the second period with a free throw parade, as Landvik, Hagen and Sondrol each knocked down a pair to extend UNW's lead to 28-19. Success at the free throw line was a key theme for
Aaron Kahl's squad, as it went on to make 16 of its 18 attempts in the game, good for 88.9%. Sondrol and Terry each added buckets to cap off a 15-0 Northwestern run that proved to be the turning point in the game. After BVU ended the run with a three,
Rylie Hirschey (Pine River, Minn./Pine River Backus) rattled off four consecutive points to make it a 19-3 run and push the lead to 14. Terry knifed through the Beavers' defense for a buzzer-beating floater and the Eagles took a 39-27 lead into the half. Terry led the way with 12 first half points, while Sondrol had 10 and five rebounds.
The Beavers came out on fire in the second half, scoring the first eight points before Hagen drilled a three to stop the bleeding. Schuck had the BVU defense on skates, scoring on two back cuts in three possessions to make it a 48-39 Northwestern lead. Hagen buried another triple to push the lead back to double digits at 51-41. A Landvik three-point play stretched the lead to 13, but Buena Vista closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to trim the lead to seven.
The Beavers struck first in the fourth to pull within five, but that was the closest they would get.
Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony) nailed a three off an assist from
Ella Falk (Jamestown, N.D./Jamestown), and then Falk turned BVU over and went coast-to-coast for two, extending the lead back to double digits. Grosz followed that up with another three-pointer and the rout was on. Terry and Hagen both made layups as the teams traded baskets, and the final dagger came when Grosz and Sondrol each grabbed offensive rebounds on the same possession, which resulted in a
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) and-one to deflate the Beavers and put Northwestern ahead 69-55. Sondrol converted an and-one of her own to give UNW its biggest lead at 74-55, and the Eagles closed the deal, winning 74-58 to improve to 6-1 and 2-0 on their home court.
Sondrol led the Eagles in scoring for the third consecutive game, finishing with 15 points and adding nine rebounds (five of which were on the offensive end). Terry contributed 14 points, while Hagen dropped 12 and grabbed eight boards. Schuck finished with an efficient nine points on 4-5 shooting, while Grosz and Landvik dished out five and four assists, respectively.
Next up for the Eagles will be a brief dip into conference play, as they will travel to Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran on Friday and Saturday. The conference opener at Martin Luther is scheduled for 5:30 PM as part of a Women's-Men's doubleheader.
