Women’s Basketball Clinches UMAC’s No. 2 Seed with Win at Northwestern

February 16, 2024

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women’s basketball team locked down the No. 2 seed in next week’s UMAC Tournament after coming back in the fourth quarter for a 67-64 win over the University of Northwestern on Friday night. The Cougars improve to 14-10 (10-3 UMAC) on the season.

After a back-and-forth first quarter that ended with Minnesota Morris ahead, 13-12, the Cougars started hot in the second quarter and used a 12-2 run to go up by double-digits, 27-17. Shelby Mortenson had a pair of buckets in that stretch and Grace Perry finished it off with a triple.

Northwestern answered right back with a 14-0 spurt to take a 31-27 lead as the clock ticked under two minutes, but in the closing moments before halftime, Minnesota Morris continued the battle of runs with eight in a row to go to the break with a 35-31 advantage. Maddy Grove scored twice in the final 15 seconds to give the Cougars the lead.

Malory Anderson opened the second half with a three-pointer to put Minnesota Morris up by seven, but Northwestern would storm back again with a 9-0 run and take a 51-47 lead into the final 10 minutes after a three-point play from Jasmine Sondrol.

The first nine points of the fourth quarter belonged to Minnesota Morris to make it 56-51, but the game would end up knotted at 60-60 as the clock rolled under two minutes to play. In the late stages of the game, Jadyn Sondrol put the Cougars ahead and a Grove bucket with 32 seconds left made it a four-point game. A stop and a pair of Anderson free throws in the final seconds wrapped it up for Minnesota Morris.

Mortenson ended the night tied for game-high scoring honors with 17, while going 8-for-8 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the line. Grove added 16 points. Anderson had nine points and nine rebounds, while Kwateh had eight points and four steals.