MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team picked up its first UMAC victory of the season on Friday night with a 63-45 win over visiting Northland College. The Cougars up their record to 2-11 (1-3 UMAC) with the win, while the LumberJills fall to 5-7 (1-3 UMAC).

Minnesota Morris controlled the game down low, outscoring Northland 40-8 on points in the paint and adding 57 rebounds in the contest, tied for 10th all-time in program history. The bench provided a big boost for the Cougars as well, outscoring the LumberJill bench by a count of 29-0.

The first quarter remained close throughout, but a layup from Reece Wassink off a nice entry feed from Lexus Redthunder tied the game at 10-10 and Redthunder added two free throws moments later to make it 12-10 after one. The Cougars would not trail again the rest of the way.

Those four unanswered points turned into a 9-0 run as Jadyn Sondrol hit a jumper in the opening minute of the second quarter and Haley Wollschlager followed with a three-pointer to give Minnesota Morris a 17-10 lead. The Cougar lead grew to eight on multiple occasions late in the first half before they headed to the break with a 29-23 edge on the LumberJills.

Coming out of halftime, both Sondrol and Wollschlager knocked down three-pointers as part of an 8-0 run to extend the margin to 37-23. Northland was held to 2-of-17 shooting as a team in the third quarter and Minnesota Morris took command with a 46-30 lead heading to the final 10 minutes of play.

Northland played fast and continued to try to find the range from three-point land in the final quarter but were mostly unsuccessful. Minnesota Morris went on top by more than 20 points as time ticked away and the LumberJills were never able to pull any closer than 16 points down the stretch.

On a night in which 10 Cougars scored and all 12 players who entered the game grabbed at least one rebound, Wollschlager led the way with 11 points and seven assists, while Shelby Mortenson came off the bench for 10 points and five boards. Malory Anderson scored seven points and led the Cougars with eight rebounds. 

Minnesota Morris will look to make it two wins in a row tomorrow afternoon, hosting the University of Wisconsin-Superior at 4:45 p.m.