ST. PAUL, Minn. – If there is one thing the University of Northwestern Women's Basketball team has, it's fight. After nearly pulling off a miraculous comeback on Saturday at Martin Luther College, the Eagles nearly pulled off another in the Ericksen Center Wednesday night against the University of Wisconsin-Superior. UNW held a four-point halftime lead but appeared to be on the brink of being blown out after a big run by the second-place Yellowjackets in the second half. Thanks to some timely shooting from
Emma Korinek (New Brighton, Minn./Concordia Academy) and some successful defensive pressure, Northwestern turned a 15-point deficit into a five-point one before UWS closed out a 63-54 win at the free throw line.
The Eagles had some juice from the start, getting early buckets from freshmen Korinek and
Ella Frazier (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi). UW-Superior took a 9-5 lead, but five
Brenna Vogel (New Prague, Minn./South Metro) points and a Frazier jumper closed the gap as UNW trailed 13-12 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Northwestern let its opponent know it wasn't going anywhere. A Frazier three-pointer tied the game at 15, then a
Carli Elrod (Lindstrom, Minn./Spectrum) layup gave the Eagles their first lead of the night. After the Jackets answered with a three, UNW rattled off seven-straight, including threes from Korinek and
Aubrey Langrehr (Rockland, Wis./Bangor), to take a 24-18 advantage. UWS scored the next four at the free throw line to pull within two, but an Elrod layup right before the horn gave the hosts a 26-22 lead at halftime.
Superior came out of the locker room with some serious momentum, scoring the first six points, and 13 of the first 15, to storm ahead by seven. Northwestern's one-and-only field goal of the period came on a Langrehr triple with 3:03 left, as the Eagles' other eight points came at the foul line, resulting in a 46-37 deficit after being out-scored 24-11.
UW-Superior's lead grew to 15 as UNW still could only score at the charity stripe, but back-to-back three-pointers from Korinek ignited a 10-0 Northwestern run (eight of which were from the freshman) that had the crowd fired up and the Eagles suddenly down just five at 56-51. The Yellowjackets briefly quieted the Ericksen Center with a clutch three with 1:12 remaining, but Korinek drilled another one herself just 13 seconds later. However, Superior went 4-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute and held UNW scoreless to hold on for a 63-54 victory to sweep the season series.
Korinek finished 6-12 from the field and 4-6 from three to lead all scorers with 16 points, in addition to four rebounds and a pair of steals. Elrod finished with 11 points, five boards and a game-high four steals as Northwestern won the turnover battle by a staggering, 21-4 margin. Frazier scored nine points in a 3-4 effort, while Langrehr chipped in eight in just 11 minutes off the bench.
Marin Blom (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) logged four rebounds and
Karley Loven (Swanville, Minn./Swanville) dished out a game-high five assists. Unfortunately for UNW, the game may have been lost on the glass, where UW-Superior held a 54-20 edge (16-5 offensive).
The Eagles will travel to Minnesota Morris for a 1:00 tilt on Saturday, February 7
th.
