MORRIS, Minn. - Minnesota Morris gave UMAC-leading Wisconsin-Superior all they could handle in a 77-72 loss to the Yellowjackets Saturday afternoon in UMAC women's basketball action at Jim Gremmels Court.

The Cougars trailed by 6 early, but a 9-0 run gave them a lead toward the end of the opening stanza. Elli Stevenson scored seven in the spurt that ended with a 3. UMM took a 14-10 lead into the second quarter.

The Yellowjackets took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Cougars 26-13 to take a 36-27 lead into halftime.

Minnesota Morris would not back down though. Mauren Thiesen and Abby Van Kempen started the third quarter with back-to-back 3s to trim the deficit to 3. UWS built their lead back up to 7 at 44-37, but another 9-0 Cougar run gave them a 2-point lead. Zoe Loucks and Stevenson drained big 3s in the run. It was back-and-forth the rest of the quarter with the Yellowjackets taking a slight 50-49 lead into the final quarter.

UWS went up by 10 midway through the fourth, but again, the Cougars would not go away. Back-to-back layups from Van Kempen cut the deficit to 3 at 70-67 with 1:14 left. Later, another Van Kempen lay-in made it 73-72 UWS with 15 seconds remaining. The Yellowjackets closed with a lay-in and free throws to claim the hard-fought 5-point win.

Stevenson led all scorers with 22 points. Thiesen made four 3s en route to 14 points. Van Kempen tallied 13 and Bailey Miller added 11.

Minnesota Morris (5-12, 5-4 in UMAC) heads out of conference for a road game Tuesday at Trinity Bible College.