ST. PAUL, Minn. – University of Northwestern Women's Basketball hosted Northland College on Friday night for their first home game since January 14. The Eagles entered the game undefeated in the UMAC and just one win away from clinching the regular season title. UNW fell behind in the first half, but rallied in the second to defeat the Lumberjills 71-59 and clinch the conference championship outright.
 
The UMAC regular season title is the third consecutive for the Eagles and their 14^th in program history. The last three championships won during the 2021-22, 2020-21, and 2014-15 seasons were each shared with another UMAC program, with the teams having tied atop the conference standings. This season, the Eagles won the championship outright for the first time since their 2007-08 title.
 
In addition to the championship win, an all-time program record was broken on Friday night. Eagles' Head Coach Aaron Kahl won his 217^th game of his career at UNW, surpassing his predecessor Linda Schuck for the most wins of any coach in the history of the University of Northwestern Women's Basketball program.
 
Though UNW won in the end, Northland jumped out to a lead early in the game. The Lumberjills scored 11 in a row in the opening of the game to jump ahead 14-5. Northland led by eight points in the final minute of the first until a Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) three ball brought their lead down to five by the end of the frame, though Northwestern still trailed 21-16.
 
The Eagles retook the lead in the second quarter with back-to-back threes from Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) and Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony) to go up 22-21. The two teams traded shots through the rest of the quarter, though the Lumberjills retook the lead and led by one point at halftime, up 37-36.
 
The tide turned right after halftime as the Eagles outscored the Lumberjills 25-10 in the third quarter to take a 14-point lead, up 61-47. Northwestern shot 56.25 percent (9-for-16) in the quarter while holding Northland to just 25.0 percent (4-for-16).
 
In the fourth, the Lumberjills cut into the Eagles' lead but it was too little too late as Northwestern closed out the game with a 71-59 championship-clinching victory.
 
Hagen led the Eagles with a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double, shooting 6-for-11 from three-point range in the win. Megan McGeough (Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy) just missed a double-double of her own with nine points and nine rebounds for UNW.
 
Up next, Northwestern will host the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets for a conference contest at 4:45 P.M. on Saturday, February 11.