Box Score
The Jills could not advance in the UMAC tournament tonight as they fell to the Northwestern College Eagles 49-37. The Eagles avenged their loss to the Jills in last year's UMAC Championship game. The loss also ends a 20 game-home winning streak for the LumberJills at Kendrigan Gymnasium starting last season.
The teams both started slow as the game began with both teams only scoring nine combined points in the first five minutes. Northwestern's leading scorer, Katie DeWitt got the Eagles on the board first with a jumper in the first minute of play. She led all players with 23 points on the night, while chipping in 14 rebounds. Senior Mel Waytashek (Sr./ Little Falls, Minn.) evened the game with a jumper of her own 30 seconds later. Waytashek finished the night with four points.
After six minutes the LumberJills had jumped out to a three point lead, which would be their largest and only lead. An Eagles three-pointer tied the game and they never looked back as they amassed a five point lead heading into halftime.
The second half started alot like the first for the Jills. After a Chelsea Lundgren (Sr./ Crosby, Minn.) lay-up in the first few minutes of the half Northland went four minutes without a basket. Lundgren finished with eight points and six rebounds. Meanwhile, the Eagles had pushed their lead to as many as 12 points before a pair of Lindsey Hamm (Sr./ Ontonagon, Mich.) free throws brought the game back to single digits. Northwestern pushed right back and extended their lead to 14, their highest on the night.
Northland was unable to climb back into the game and watched their pursuit of a back to back title slip away. On the night the Jills shot just 25.5 % and were only 2-19 from three point range. Hamm lead the team with nine points in the game.
Northwestern will host Presentation College in the UMAC championship game on Saturday.