DULUTH, Minn. - A night after losing their first conference game of the season, the Minnesota Morris women's basketball team bounced back nicely to defeat St. Scholastica 68-62 Saturday in UMAC action in Duluth.

The key to the game was the way the Cougars closed out the first half and opened up the second. Minnesota Morris outscored St. Scholastica 37-19 in the second and third quarters and held to the Saints to just six points in the second quarter.

The Cougars not only turned the pressure up defensively in the second quarter, but they used that momentum on the offensive end as well. UMM made only one of ten shots from 3-point range in the first half and shot just 23 percent from the floor. In the game's second 20 minutes, the Cougars made seven of 11 shots from distance and Mauren Thiesen made all four of her shots from beyond the arc in the second half as she would go on to score a game-high 18 points. UMM shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half.

Minnesota Morris trailed 14-9 after the first quarter, but scored the first nine points of the second quarter to take an 18-14 lead. Abby Van Kempen and Kendra Raths each collected a pair of baskets to in the stretch to give the Cougars the edge.

The Cougars outscored the Saints 23-13 in the third quarter and closed the quarter on three straight 3s, one from Raths and two from Thiesen, including one right before the buzzer that gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the game at the time by 13.

St. Scholastica cut the deficit to 2 in the final minute, but Tori Holt and Elli Stevenson iced the win for the Cougars from the free throw line.

Stevenson and Raths each scored 15 points and Raths collected her second double-double in as many nights with 14 rebounds. Van Kempen added six points and eight rebounds as her team got the better of her sister's, Holly, a junior forward at St. Scholastica.

Minnesota Morris (10-5, 7-1 in UMAC) returns home Friday for a UMAC matchup with Northland at 5:30 p.m.