ST. PAUL, Minn. – Senior Day for the University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team turned somber rather quickly, as a 20-7 deficit after one quarter put the Eagles in a difficult position to come back against North Central University. The Rams led by as many as 26 until a strong fourth quarter for UNW produced a final score of 65-52, keeping NCU in playoff position at 5-5 in the UMAC, while Northwestern fell to 1-10 in conference play.
North Central jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but an
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) three-pointer just over a minute later made it a 9-7 lead for the visitors. The Eagles were unable to find the bottom of the net for the rest of the quarter, and the Rams closed it out on an 11-0 run to lead 20-7 after one. The run became 13-0 when NCU scored to open the second quarter, but UNW finally got some offense going with a
Marin Blom (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) and-one and a
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum) three to shrink the margin to 26-13. Blom made a couple more layups, but North Central's lead grew to 19 until
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) knocked down a trey. Heading into halftime, the Rams held a 38-20 advantage.
The lead ballooned to 26 before Northwestern got its first field goal of the second half on a Blom layup at the 7:05 mark, and a 5-0 solo run from Korinek brought it down to 21 for a brief period. Despite layups from Frazier and Elrod on consecutive trips in the final two minutes, the Rams took a 58-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
As they have done so many times in recent weeks, the Eagles sprung to life in the final period.
Katelyn Lindberg (Clearwater, Minn./Monticello), the lone senior recognized on Senior Day, started a 5-0 run with a jump shot, and a Korinek lead trimmed the deficit to 17. NCU pushed it back to 20 with 4:24 remaining, but UNW's defense locked in for the rest of the game and didn't allow a single point. Frazier canned two more three-pointers, but Northwestern ran out of time and suffered a 65-53 defeat.
On a tough shooting day, the Eagles did still manage to have four players in double figures. Blom led the way with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Korinek logged her second-career double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Frazier also scored 11 and Elrod 10, in addition to four rebounds and three blocks. Lindberg,
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./South Metro) and
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville) also snared four boards.
With its postseason hopes eliminated, Northwestern will play its next and final game of the season on Saturday, February 21
st at Crown. Tip-off is set for 1:00 PM in St. Bonifacius.
