ST. PAUL, Minn. – Despite frigid temps across the Twin Cities on Saturday, the Ericksen Center stands were packed for the University of Northwestern's annual "Hoops Hysteria" day. This year's opponent for the UNW Women's Basketball team was Crown College, led by former Associate Head Coach of the Eagles, David Pederson. Both squads entered the game winless in the UMAC, meaning someone was guaranteed to leave with conference win No. 1 on the season. That someone was Northwestern, who emerged with a 62-56 win in a back-and-forth battle.
Four different Eagles combined to score the teams first eight points, producing an 8-5 advantage early in the first quarter. A
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./South Metro) three-pointer and a pair of
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum) made it a five-point lead, but Crown scored the next six points to move in front. Vogel found freshman
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) for a layup to briefly give the lead back to UNW, but a Polars jump shot with a minute left made it 18-17 in favor of the visitors after one.
The second quarter was tight as well, with Korinek's jumper to open the scoring followed by four-straight from Crown to give it a 22-19 edge.
Marin Blom (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) sunk a trey to even the score, then
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville) hit one 90 seconds later to give Northwestern a 27-24 lead. After the Polars briefly regained the lead, Korinek drilled a three to make it 32-30, Eagles, at halftime.
The third quarter is where UNW left its mark. After Crown scored the first four points of the period, Northwestern outscored it 14-4 the rest of the way. Loven had 10 points in the frame, including the Eagles' final eight, and back-to-back three-pointers (one at the buzzer) to give UNW a 46-38 cushion entering the final 10 minutes of play.
Coach Pederson's squad would no go down quietly. The Polars pulled within four with 7:56 remaining, but Elrod knocked down a triple to stifle them for a moment. A 7-0 run which included five points from
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) appeared to put Northwestern in cruise control with just over five minutes left, but Crown once again battled back, trimming the deficit to five with 3:09 remaining. Frazier, Blom and
Katelyn Lindberg (Clearwater, Minn./Monticello) all delivered clutch buckets down the stretch to allow the Eagles to finish off a 62-56 victory and claim that elusive first conference win.
Loven led a balanced scoring attack, after missing Wednesday's game due to injury, with 13 points and four rebounds in just 17 minutes. Three Eagles scored 11 points, including Elrod, who also pulled down 12 rebounds to log her first-career double-double. Korinek and Frazier each scored 11 as well with four rebounds apiece, and the latter chipping in three assists. Vogel contributed a game-high five assists.
UNW will have a week off before traveling to Martin Luther on Saturday, January 31
st. Tip-off in New Ulm is scheduled for 1:00 PM as Northwestern will attempt to avenge an early January loss.
