ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team blitzed Crown College in the second half to defeat the Polars on Saturday afternoon, 80-54. The Cougars had a two-point halftime lead but grew the margin to 19 by the end of the third quarter and closed it out comfortably. The win improves UMN Morris to 5-8 (2-1 UMAC) on the season. 

The game opened with a Maddy Grove jumper, but a scoring drought of more than three minutes helped Crown take a 15-12 lead after the first quarter of play. Grove ended with four points in the final 30 seconds of the period to close the gap after the Polars took a five-point lead.

Early in the second quarter, Minnesota Morris went on a 10-0 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 25-16 advantage with Shelby Mortenson providing six points over that stretch. Crown responded with an 8-1 run of its own and the contest remained tight all the way to the break. The Cougars maintained a 35-33 halftime edge thanks to a late post bucket from Claire Stark.

Out of the locker rooms, Minnesota Morris started the second half on another 10-0 run and ultimately outscored the Polars, 24-7, in the third quarter. McKenzie Latzke was the only player who caused problems for the Cougars on the afternoon and her triple midway through the quarter got the Crown deficit down to 11, only for Alice Wilkinson to score and add a pair of assists in the late going to increase the UMN Morris cushion to 59-40 going into the fourth.

The beginning of the fourth quarter was turning into a little bit of a track meet until Minnesota Morris slowed things down and Malory Anderson swished a triple to make it 63-40 with eight minutes to go. The Cougars added nicely-worked layups from Grove and Jadyn Sondrol shortly thereafter as the lead grew to 25. Despite Latzke doing her best to try to mount a one-player comeback, Minnesota Morris cruised to the finish line, locking down on defense in the final minutes to cap off the 26-point win.

Grove finished with 21 points on the day, shooting 9-for-14 from the field. Mortenson was 5-for-7 off the bench for 12 points and Sondrol added 10. 

Minnesota Morris is home at James Gremmels Court for the remainder of the month, tipping off a six-game home stand on Jan. 12 by hosting Bethany Lutheran College at 5:30 p.m.