ST. PAUL, Minn. – University of Northwestern Women's Basketball hosted University of Minnesota Morris on Friday night for a semifinal showdown in the UMAC Tournament. The No. 1 seed Eagles defeated the No. 4 Cougars in a 68-55 final to advance to the postseason championship game.
 
The opening quarter was a back-and-forth contest between the conference rivals. The largest lead of the first quarter was an early 4-0 run out the gate by UNW before Morris made a basket. Morris tied the game at 12-12 in the final minute of the frame, but Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) responded with a three to put the Eagles up 15-12 before the end of the quarter.
 
UNW broke away from UMM in the second quarter, shooting 53.9 percent (7-for-13) and making 8-of-10 from the charity stripe to put 24 points on the scoreboard. Defensively, the Eagles held Morris to 33.3 percent (5-for-15) from the floor for 10 points in the quarter. By halftime, Northwestern led by 17 points up 39-22.
 
The Eagles continued their strong shooting into the third quarter, scoring 22 points on a 50.0 percent (8-for-16) clip. The Cougars scored 19 points in the frame for their highest-scoring quarter of the game, but UNW nonetheless increased their lead to 20 points leading 61-41 going into the final frame.
 
Morris outscored UNW 14-7 in the final 10 minutes, but the Eagles' lead carried them to the 68-55 victory in the conference postseason semifinals.
 
A key to UNW's victory was their success in scoring points off of turnovers, outscoring Morris 16-to-6 in that category.
 
As a team, the Eagles shot 38.1 percent (24-for-63) from the field, 30.8 percent (8-for-26) from three-point range, and made 85.7 percent (12-for-14) of their free-throws. The Cougars made 40.3 percent (25-for-62) from the floor, 16.7 percent (2-for-12) from beyond the arc, and 60.0 percent (3-for-5) at the line.
 
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) led the Eagles with a career-high 15 points and brought in eight rebounds. Megan McGeough (Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy) scored 10 points in the game. Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) had eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
 
Up next, #1 seed Northwestern will host the UMAC Women's Basketball Tournament Championship game on Sunday, February 26 at 2:00 P.M. against the No. 2 seed North Central University Rams in the Ericksen Center. Tickets will be sold at the gate and are also avaible online now.