MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team went into Saturday's home game with North Central University with one game under their belt this season. The Rams had played 12. Unsurprisingly, NCU looked like it was in midseason form much of the way and pulled ahead by as much as 19 points midway through the third quarter. The Cougars refused to go away, however, shocking the Rams with a huge burst to knot the score with less than two minutes to play before North Central was able to convert down the stretch and hold off UMN Morris for a 70-66 win. The Cougars fall to 1-1 in the UMAC, while the Rams move to 11-2 overall with a 3-0 record in the conference.

The game opened with a three-pointer from Lexus Eagle Chasing, but the first quarter was otherwise pretty tough sledding for the Cougars. North Central responded to that opening shot with an 11-0 run and things continued to go NCU's way throughout the rest of the quarter. A missed traveling call in the final minute opened the door for a Kadija Conteh three-pointer to make it 24-14 after one.

Early in the second quarter, the Rams doubled up the Cougars at 28-14 before consecutive threes from Jadyn Sondrol and Justine Day got UMN Morris back into it. Though the scoring of Naomi Hagstrom (18 in the first half) made a comeback difficult for the Cougars, the game was still within reach at halftime at 37-29.

The two sides traded baskets for the opening minutes of the third quarter before a sudden 10-1 run from North Central pushed its lead to 55-36. Some solid defense in the final minutes of the quarter allowed Minnesota Morris to slice the deficit down to 60-46 entering the fourth.

The comeback truly began with just over six minutes left to play. Down 64-52, UMN Morris had two baskets from Malory Anderson as part of an 8-0 run that got the lead down to four. After NCU was able to push the lead back to six, Anderson grabbed an offensive board and scored at the rim. That was followed by an Ella Van Kempen jumper and a tough finish from in close by Sondrol to level the game at 66-66 with less than two minutes left. 

Badly in need of a bucket, the Rams went to their top scorer and Hagstrom scored her final two points on a driving layup off a nice feed from Emily DiGiorgio. After the Cougars were unable to answer on the other end, DiGiorgio muscled in a shot down low to increase NCU's edge to 70-66 with 52 ticks left. The Cougars finally ran out of steam in the final seconds and the Rams were able to come away with the victory.

Hagstrom ended with a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds on the day. Eagle Chasing led the Cougars with 17 points. Sondrol tacked on another 16 points. Off the bench, Anderson had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Van Kempen also chipped in with 10.

The Cougars make their first road trip of the season on Feb. 11, heading to St. Paul to face the University of Northwestern at 7 p.m.