Morris, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris women's basketball team cruised to a 92-38 win over visiting Crown this evening (Feb. 10), but the even bigger story was that they also ended the night back in first place in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) standings.

Morris' win, coupled with a Martin Luther loss leaves the Cougars and Knights with identical 9-2 league records, making for an excited finish with just three games left in the regular season.

The Cougars (14-8, 9-2 UMAC) got production from across the line-up tonight, led by 23 points each from Emily Mehr and Kendra Wycoff. For Wycoff, it's her third game with over 20 points in her continually impressive freshman season, with the bulk of her damage done from behind the arc, as she hit five three-pointers on the night, her second best tally of the season.

And for Mehr, she tops the 20-point mark for the seventh time on the season, including each of the last three games. Her recent surge now leaves the junior just 19 points shy of 1,000 in career, while she also set a new single season career high, sitting with 378, bettering her 361 from last season. When she reaches 1,000, she will become just the 20th player in program history to meet the milestone.

Abby Fragodt also added 10 points, finishing a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.

The Cougars jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game and held the Storm to just 16 points in the first half.  

Crown (1-19, 0-11 UMAC) shot just 22% in the first half – making only five field goals (5-of-23) – shooting just 26% (12-of-46) for the game, as they lost for the 14th straight game. They were led in scoring by Judy Mundt with 13, but she was held below her 17.4 points per game average, after entering the game as the second leading scorer in the conference.

The Cougars led by as much as 27 in the first half when Wycoff hit her first three to give the Cougars a 41-14 lead with 2:10 left to go. They would go into the locker rooms up 41-16.

In the second they extended their lead to as much as 56 in the final two minutes before finishing with the final 54-point victory.

Nine different players finished with at least four points, with the Cougar bench contributing 39 on the night.

Now back in first place for the first time since the Cougars were 4-0, they are in control of securing at least a share of their third consecutive UMAC Championship. They clinched a spot in the UMAC Tournament with their win as well, but sit just a game ahead of St. Scholastica in third place at 8-3.

The task gets tougher too, as they host rival Northwestern next, a team that fell by just four points in the two teams first meeting in St. Paul this season. They will tip-off with the Eagles at 3:00 p.m. back in Jim Gremmels Court tomorrow afternoon.