MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team inched closer to a home UMAC Tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon with a 91-45 romp over Northland College. The Cougars had five in double-figures as they improved to 13-10 (9-3 UMAC) on the season.
With
Jadyn Sondrol assisting on the first three baskets, Minnesota Morris jumped out to a 6-3 lead and extended that margin out to 18-9 on an
Alice Wilkinson layup with just over six minute elapsed. The lead reached 10 points before the LumberJills closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run to bring the Cougar lead back to just three, 19-16, after 10 minutes.
The teams traded buckets for the first four minutes of the second quarter, but Northland finally ran out of answers and scored only a single point over the final six minutes of the first half. Starting with a
Reece Wassink layup at the 6:05 mark, Minnesota Morris extended its lead from 25-22 to 41-23 at the break, with Sondrol knocking down a pair of threes along the way.
Minnesota Morris cruised through the second half, with a scoreless stretch of more than four minutes from Northland and a 13-0 run from the Cougars putting away all doubt.
Claire Stark continued to own the paint and ended the quarter with 17 points, while a late spurt from
Jay Kwateh put her in double-figures at 10 points as UMN Morris went to the fourth quarter with a 65-34 lead.
Stark reached a new career high early in the fourth quarter and
Grace Perry provided a spark later in the quarter as Minnesota Morris soon doubled up the LumberJills. The seniors were cleared from the floor with a little over three minutes to go and the advantage kept climbing all the way to the end as Northland were unable to stop the Cougar offense.
Stark finished the afternoon with 26 points and seven rebounds, all of which came on the offensive end of the floor.
Shelby Mortenson had 16 points and eight rebounds. Kwateh, Perry, and Wilkinson all added 10 apiece.
Minnesota Morris wraps up the regular season in the Twin Cities next weekend. First up is a meeting with the University of Northwestern on Feb. 16 in St. Paul. Tip-off for that contest is set for 5:30 p.m.
