ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team had an entire week to stew over its January 12
th home loss to the University of Wisconsin-Superior thanks to the postponement of its January 13
th game versus Northland College. When the Eagles finally were given a chance to redeem themselves Friday night at Crown College, they did so. A career-high in points from freshman
Ella Falk (Jamestown, N.D./Jamestown), coupled with a dominant effort on the glass, allowed Northwestern to come away with a 71-56 road win.
The Eagles didn't waste any time getting started, as
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) fed
Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony) for a three-pointer to take a quick lead. Sondrol made a layup soon after to make it 5-2 in favor of UNW.
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) stole a pass and assisted on a
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) fast-break layup, then hit a three of her own to put Northwestern up 10-2 after a 7-0 run. One minute later,
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) buried a three via a Grosz assist, who then got a block on the other end and gave way to Falk, who euro-stepped her way to two points and made it 15-5, Northwestern. Falk wasn't done though, as the freshman drilled a three-pointer with 53 seconds left. At the end of one quarter, the Eagles led, 20-15.
The Polars, some momentum on their side from the end of the first quarter, continued to impress as they cut the lead to two before
Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) made a shot from in the lane. Crown was able to pull within one at 24-23, but the Eagles ripped off a 9-0 run that included threes by Grosz and Hagen, and a layup by Hirschey off an assist from Falk (one of her two assists in that stretch). Hagen buried another triple with 3:44 left to stretch the lead to double digits again at 38-28, and a Sondrol layup after slicing through the Crown defense made it 40-30 at the half.
Despite trailing by double figures, Crown again started a quarter with fire, scoring the period's first five points. Sondrol found a back-cutting Schuck for a layup to stop the bleeding and put UNW back up by seven. Schuck continued her explosive start to the penultimate quarter with two free throws and another layup, then assisted on a Landvik layup to make it a 48-41 advantage for the Eagles. A Grosz offensive rebound led to another Landvik layup, and the lead was nine. Falk checked in and hit a jumper to continue the spurt, which was followed by a Schuck floater, courtesy of two Northwestern offensive rebounds in one possession to make it 54-41 after the 8-0 run. The offensive rebounding was the story of the game, and specifically the quarter, as UNW had seven in the game compared to Crown's two, and held a 4-0 advantage in the third quarter alone. Falk was left wide open for a three-pointer with under 20 seconds remaining, then knocked down two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to give Northwestern a 58-46 lead with one quarter remaining.
Northwestern carried the momentum into the final quarter, as Terry drilled a three off an assist from Hirschey to give the Eagles their largest lead to that point at 61-46. What followed was the exclamation point on a career day from Falk. The freshman buried a three-pointer, blocked a shot on the other end, then hit a beautiful, fade-away jumper in the lane to put UNW ahead, 66-50. A scoring drought of over three minutes between the two teams was ended by a Terry spin move and layup, and a Hagen three with 1:19 left was the dagger as Northwestern closed out a 71-56 road win to improve to 10-6 on the season and 3-2 in UMAC play.
The scoring for UNW was about as balanced as it gets, with five of the eight Eagles who saw action scoring in double figures. As previously noted, Falk poured in a career-best 16 points and dished out three assists. Hagen produced her fifth double-double of the season and her first in conference play with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Grosz and Sondrol also had strong games on the glass with nine and seven rebounds, respectively. Schuck was tremendous from her point guard position, finishing with 11 points, five assists and four boards. Landvik and Terry each finished with 10 points, with Terry also pulling down four rebounds. As a team, Northwestern out-rebounded Crown 38-26 and scored 14 second-chance points compared to Crown's one.
The Eagles will be on the road again Saturday afternoon, traveling to Minnesota Morris for another important UMAC game. The Cougars improved to 5-1 in conference play on Friday night and are tied for first in the conference standings. Tip-off in Morris is set for 3:00 PM.
