ST. PAUL, Minn. – After an 11-day wait, the University of Northwestern and Northland College Women's Basketball teams were finally able to square off Wednesday night in the Ericksen Center, after their scheduled January 13
th game was postponed. The Eagles were ready for the occasion, as 14 of the 15 players who saw action scored in their 96-32 victory in which they never trailed. The win improved UNW's record to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in the UMAC.
Northwestern wasted no time getting started, as
Taylor Schuck (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) drove through the Northland defense for a layup on the game's opening possession.
Rylie Hirschey (Pine River, Minn./Pine River Backus), making her first start of the season, made a three-pointer to make it 5-0. The LumberJills got on the board with a three-pointer of their own, but a
Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) layup, followed by a Schuck three, followed by another Landvik stretched UNW's lead to 13-3.
Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) and
River Landers (Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow) both made layups of their own soon after checking into the game, making it 17-6, Northwestern. A
Lexi Garcia (Colorado Springs, Colo./Vanguard) layup, assisted by
Ella Falk (Jamestown, N.D./Jamestown), made it 21-6. Terry finished the quarter with seven points as UNW led, 24-9.
Repeating her first quarter feat, Schuck scored the first bucket of the second quarter before giving way to a big stretch from
Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony). The senior drilled a three, made two layups and then assisted on a Hirschey layup that gave Northwestern a 37-9 advantage. The run ballooned to 20-0 as Landvik made a layup to make UNW's lead 41-9. Landvik then assisted on Falk's first of four three-pointers on the evening. Leading 49-11,
Bethany Lunke (Lakeville, Minn./United Christian Academy) stole the ball near the Northwestern bench and passed it up ahead to fellow senior
Annika Dykstra (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), who dribbled in from half court and finished the fast-break layup. Falk hit another three at the buzzer to give Northwestern a 56-14 halftime advantage.
After scoring 24 points in the first quarter and a blistering 32 in the second, UNW cooled off a bit in the third quarter. Landvik and Sondrol scored four and three points, respectively, to begin the half, which was followed by back-to-back threes, courtesy of Garcia and Falk, to make it 69-21. Freshman
Lani Schoper's (Madison Lake, Minn./Mankato West) layup with 26 seconds left gave the Eagles a 71-22 edge with the final 10 minutes ahead.
The fourth quarter belonged to the freshmen, as Falk opened the period with five straight points and Schoper made another layup to cap off the 10-0 run and extend the lead to 56. Northland's Tara Sandoval, who finished the game with 15 points, made a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, but UNW answered right back with a Lunke layup and a nifty, left-handed and-one to pull ahead, 83-25. After a 4-0 Jills run, freshman
Ryann Eddy (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) made a layup off a Lunke assist, and her classmate,
Reese Sellers (Yuma, Ariz./Yuma Catholic), buried a three. Northland made one final three of their own before Eddy and Sellers hit back-to-back treys. Schoper scored once more to close out a convincing, 96-32 home win.
Landvik and Falk, despite playing only 19 minutes, led the way with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Landvik also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists, while Falk pulled down eight boards. Falk has been lighting it up in the past six days, averaging 17 points per game in the three-game stretch. The rest of the scoring was very balanced; Garcia scored a career-high eight, while Grosz, Schuck and Terry all scored seven. Grosz and Schuck also assisted on three baskets, while Grosz grabbed four boards. Sondrol, Schoper and Sellers all finished with six points, and Sondrol and Schoper finished with four and five rebounds, respectively. UNW excelled defensively as well, holding Northland to single digits in each of the first three quarters while forcing 19 turnovers and blocking five shots. The Eagles also out-rebounded the Jills 45-18.
The Eagles will look to make it two conference wins in a row Saturday when they travel to North Central. Northwestern trails the Rams by one game in the UMAC standings despite beating NCU, 90-56, earlier this month. Tip-off in Minneapolis is slated for 3:00 PM.
