WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – The University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team is spending the weekend before Christmas in a location you might not expect for late December: the Waterpark Capital of the World. The Eagles are participating in the two-day Titan Holiday Classic in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Game one of the weekend pitted Northwestern against Concordia University Chicago of the NACC. Despite playing without leading scorer
Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan), UNW got out to an early lead and never took its foot off the gas, rolling to an 80-56 win to kick off the weekend with a splash.
As has been the case a few times this season, the Eagles were scorching hot from three in the opening minutes.
Taylor Christenson (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy),
Jasmine Sondrol (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River),
Lexi Garcia (Colorado Springs, Colo./Vanguard) and
Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) combined to make five three-pointers (Christenson made two) in the opening five minutes as they opened up a 15-8 lead.
Ella Falk (Jamestown, N.D./Jamestown) joined in with four points, and Sondrol and Landvik each two more to close out the quarter with a 23-17 lead.
UNW extended its lead to double digits early in the second quarter after two Landvik free throws, another Sondrol trey and layups by Falk and Garcia, making it 32-19. Christenson and Sellers made layups to push the lead to 15 before a 9-0 Concordia run trimmed the lead to six at 36-30. Christenson made a pair of free throws with just over a minute remaining to make Northwestern's lead 38-30 entering halftime.
The Cougars were able to trim their deficit to five a couple minutes into the third quarter, but a Christenson layup, followed by a Sellers three, pushed the lead back to double digits. Another Sellers triple moments later made it 47-36, UNW. CUC got it back to single digits, but two more threes from Sellers and five Sondrol points sparked an 11-0 run that put the Eagles ahead 58-38.
Ryann Eddy (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) knocked down a three in the closing seconds of the quarter to make it 61-42 in favor of Northwestern with one quarter to play.
After a scoreless couple of minutes to open the fourth,
Lexi Garcia (Colorado Springs, Colo./Vanguard) hit her second three-pointer of the night. Eddy converted an and-one to stretch the advantage to 67-45, then Falk and Sondrol scored six and five points, respectively, down the stretch to finish off the 80-56 win to start the weekend. The win brought UNW back to .500 at 4-4.
Northwestern dominated the three-point line in the friendly confines of JustAGame Fieldhouse, shooting 61.9% (13-21) compared to just 9.5% for Concordia Chicago (2-21). Sondrol led the charge with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Sellers scored all 14 of her points in the second half and added three steals. Falk contributed 12 points, eight boards and three assists, and Christenson added 12 points and five assists. Garcia and Landvik each logged nine points, with the latter also grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out five assists.
The Eagles will take on their second top-10 opponent in a week Saturday afternoon when they square off with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Titans are ranked 5
th in the D3Hoops.com poll and 9
th in the WBCA poll. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM in the Dells.
