ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team took the floor for the first time in the 2025-26 season on Saturday afternoon, looking much different than in years past. UNW's rotation featured just one player with any prior experience in purple (13 games, 7.9 minutes per game) after a roster overhaul over the offseason. The new-look Eagles, who started two freshmen and three transfers, got off to a hot start and were only down two points entering the fourth quarter, but ran out of gas as Central College pulled away for a 67-56 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Freshman
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) scored Northwestern's first points of the season on a fastbreak layup after a steal by her classmate,
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi). Frazier and
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./Homeschool) (the lone returning minutes from last season) both drained three-pointers to juice UNW's lead to 14-4 nearly halfway through the first period. The Dutch were able to pull within five before
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville), who redshirted last season for the Eagles, broke up the run with a three. But the experienced Dutch were able to right the ship and score 10-consecutive points to end the quarter with a 19-17 edge.
Northwestern got a pair of early treys in the second quarter from Korinek and transfer guard
Marin Blom (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) to briefly take the lead, but Central scored four straight to sneak back in front. The Eagles responded with an 8-0 run including five Frazier points and a layup from
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum), a former track and field athlete at Division I Liberty University, to go up by six with 3:04 left before halftime. But as they did in the first quarter, the Dutch finished the quarter strong, scoring the final eight points before the buzzer to take a 33-31 lead into halftime.
UNW stayed hot from three to start the third quarter, as Elrod and Korinek both connected from deep to give Northwestern a one-point edge. Another Vogel triple put the Eagles up three as the lead continued to change hands. A Loven three-pointer tied the game at 46, then a layup from freshman
Aubrey Langrehr (Rockland, Wis./Bangor) put UNW in front. The third period ended with Central once again holding a two-point advantage at 50-48.
The young Eagles had battled for 30 minutes as the final stanza began, but it was apparent that they were beginning to run out of gas. The Dutch opened up a double-digit lead in the blink of an eye for the first time all day as Northwestern struggled to score. A Loven three cut the lead to nine with 1:33 remaining, but Central would prevail with a 67-56 win, because why wouldn't a team score exactly 67 points in 2025?
UNW's pair of freshman starters led the way, as Korinek scored 11 points in 30 minutes and Frazier followed with 10, six assists and five rebounds in 32. Loven also scored 10 behind a 3-6 outing from deep, and Vogel followed with eight points and four boards despite often being the smallest player on the court. Blom and Elrod each dished out three assists, with the latter adding seven points in her first basketball game in three years. Northwestern shot the ball well, making 42.3% of its three-pointers, but was just 5-11 from the free throw line and was out-rebounded 38-21. The Eagles did defend the three-point line well, holding the Dutch to just 12.5% from deep after a hot-shooting Friday night at Crown.
UNW will be back in action at home Tuesday, November 11
th, taking on the Hamline Pipers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
