ST. PAUL, Minn. – When the University of Northwestern and Maranatha Baptist University Women's Basketball teams took the Ericksen Center floor on Friday night, they shared a common goal: find that elusive, first win of the season. Early on, it became quite clear which team was going to accomplish its goal, as UNW jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back, cruising to a 96-34 victory to kick off the doubleheader.
The aforementioned 10-0 start was spearheaded by
Lydia Schmitter's (Eagan, Minn./United Christian Academy) six points and
Marin Blom's (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) four.
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) and
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum) joined the fray with four and two points, respectively, before the Eagles ended the quarter with three triples (two from
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) and one from
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./South Metro)) to take a 25-10 lead.
After the Sabercats scored the opening points of the second quarter, Northwestern went on an 11-0 run, with Frazier being the only Eagle to score more than once. The balanced scoring continued as Vogel, Frazier and
Olivia Heikes (Braham, Minn./Braham Area) combined to score the next 12 UNW points to extend the lead to 48-18. Schmitter scored six of the final eight Northwestern points of the period, with
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville) chipping in the other two at the free throw line, to make it 56-20 at the intermission.
After combining for 30 first-half points, Schmitter and Frazier continued to fill it up, scoring the Eagles' first five points of the second half. Lindberg scored the next four, then Loven went on a solo 5-0 run moments later to make it a 74-24 margin. Vogel and
Aubrey Langrehr (Rockland, Wis./Bangor) both buried three-pointers before time ran out to make it 80-29 with 10 minutes to play.
Loven continued to stuff the stat sheet, scoring six more fourth-quarter points, while Langrehr caught fire with a pair of threes and a fastbreak layup after blocking a shot.
Maddy Smith (Sartell, Minn./Sartell) was the only other Eagle to score in the period, knocking down a pair of free throws for her first-career points. After holding Maranatha to 14 points in the second half and just five in the fourth quarter, Northwestern came away with a 96-34 win to break into the win column for the first time.
Frazier led the way with a career-high 21 points, including four three-pointers, plus five rebounds, five assists and five steals. Schmitter put up a career-best 18 points and six steals in just 19 minutes, while Loven raised her career-high to 13 points. Langrehr scorched the nets for a career-best 11 points on 3-3 from deep in just 13 minutes, and Vogel finished with nine points, all coming from behind the arc, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lindberg and Blom each snagged four rebounds as well, with Korinek adding four steals. As a team, UNW forced 41 turnovers and shot 50% from the field.
The Eagles will have another long layoff before hosting Emmaus University at 1:00 PM on Saturday, December 13
th.
