MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team ran their winning streak to four games on Friday night with a 67-53 come-from-behind win over North Central University. The Cougars even their record at 8-8 overall on the season and remain in a tie for first place in the UMAC at 5-1.

A back-and-forth first quarter that featured six ties and six lead changes ended with Minnesota Morris ahead by one, 17-16. Maddy Grove had the first four points of the night for the Cougars and Shelby Mortenson had a quick six once she checked into the contest, ending with a layup just before the horn to put UMN Morris back on top.

A scoring drought of nearly five minutes in the second quarter by the Cougars pushed North Central into the lead as the Rams went on a 7-0 run and took a 30-24 edge. Mortenson finally broke the skid for the Cougars but NCU went to the break with a 31-26 advantage.

Claire Stark brought Minnesota Morris within three at the start of the third quarter before North Central put the next four points on the board to force the Cougars into a timeout with a 35-28 deficit. After that stoppage, the rest of the quarter was all UMN Morris. A Reece Wassink three-point play capped a 9-2 run to tie the game back up at 37-37 and another 8-0 run later in the quarter featured buckets from Stark, Wassink, Alice Wilkinson and Mortenson to give the Cougars a 45-41 lead heading into the final frame.

North Central closed within two on the opening possession of the fourth quarter and still trailed by only three, 52-49, with less than four minutes to play. That's when Minnesota Morris took control. It started with an offensive rebound and a sweet dish underneath the basket from Jadyn Sondrol that set up Stark for a bucket that made it 54-49 with 3:24 to go. From there, the Cougar defense locked down and gave up just four more points. Unable to close the gap on Minnesota Morris, North Central was forced to foul to try to extend the game and the Cougars scored their final 13 points at the charity stripe to pull away.

All nine players who saw the floor scored on the night for Minnesota Morris, led by 17 from Mortenson. Maddy Grove ended with 11, while both Stark and Jay Kwateh finished with 10. Malory Anderson only attempted two shots and finished with two points, but had eight rebounds and six steals. Sondrol finished with seven assists.

Minnesota Morris closes out the weekend with a 3 p.m. matchup against the University of Northwestern tomorrow afternoon at James Gremmels Court.