ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern and Macalester College women's basketball teams entered Saturday's matchup with the same goal: find a way to break into the win column for the first time this season. UNW was more optimistic than ever about its chances due to the collegiate debut of highly-anticipated freshman
Lydia Schmitter (Eagan, Minn./United Christian Academy), who suffered a preseason injury that kept her sidelined the first four games of the season. The Eagles found themselves in a familiar spot, needing a comeback to find that elusive first win, and nearly pulled it off before a couple of missed free throws and a clutch three-pointer by Macalester gave the Scots a 55-51 win.
Freshman
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) broke a 2-2 tie after a nearly four-minute scoring drought in the first quarter with a three-pointer to put Northwestern ahead, 5-2. A
Marin Blom (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) three put UNW back in front 9-8 with two minutes left in the period, but MAC beat the buzzer to take a 10-9 lead through one quarter.
Schmitter broke into the scoring column for the first time in her college career with two layups to give the Eagles a 13-10 edge, then an
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) layup and a
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville) trey extended the lead to 18-14 just past the midway points of the period. The Scots briefly took a 21-18 lead after a 7-0 surge, but Blom and
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum) scored consecutive buckets to retake the lead. Macalester scored the next five to take a four-point lead before Elrod picked up a steal and laid it in on the other end to finish the first half trailing, 26-24.
Schmitter scored Northwestern's first six points of the second half, but the deficit had increased to 37-30. Five Blom points and two from Korinek got UNW within four, but a late score by the Scots gave them a 43-37 advantage with one quarter to play.
Frazier kicked off the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, and a traditional three-point play by Elrod kept the Eagles within three at 47-44. MAC's lead grew to seven with 2:36 left, but Northwestern had one final push left in the tank. Jumpers by
Katelyn Lindberg (Clearwater, Minn./Monticello) and Schmitter made it a three-point game, then Frazier immediately stepped in front of a Macalester pass and took it the distance for a left-handed layup to make it 52-51, Scots, with a minute remaining. After a big stop on the defensive end, Schmitter was knocked down on an inbound play with 36 seconds to play, giving the freshman a pair of free throw attempts, down by one. She was unable to convert either, and Macalester sunk a three on the other end with 10 seconds left to seal the 55-51 win.
Schmitter scored a game-high 13 points in her debut, adding six rebounds. Blom finished with a career-high 11 points and five boards, while Frazier contributed nine points and five steals. Elrod put up seven points and a game-high eight rebounds, and
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./South Metro) chipped in four boards and a team-high three assists. Korinek finished with five rebounds.
Northwestern will finish off its four-game road trip Tuesday, November 25
th, at Luther College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 PM in Decorah, Iowa.
