MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team will travel to North Central University on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff before returning home to host Martin Luther College at 1 p.m. on Saturday as the Cougars enter the penultimate week of Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play.
 
All conference games can be found on the UMAC Sports Network app or by clicking here. The live stats of UMM at NCU be found here and to follow the live stats of UMM vs MLC click here.
 
Last week, the Cougars went 2–0 to improve to 6–2 in conference play. Minnesota Morris sits third in the UMAC standings, just a half game behind the University of Wisconsin–Superior in second place. The Cougars opened the week with a 71–70 home victory over Crown College, with all 10 student-athletes who entered the game scoring. Maddy Grove led the way with 16 points. In the following game, UMM topped the University of Northwestern 81–69. Grace Perry scored a career-high 24 points in the win, shooting 6-for-7 from beyond the arc, and was named UMAC Athlete of the Week.
 
Minnesota Morris owns the highest-scoring offense in the UMAC, averaging 68.2 points per game. Grove leads the conference in scoring and reached 400 points on the season against Northwestern. Shelby Mortenson follows with 190 points, while Gianna Klarenbeek rounds out the top three with 179. Perry, Claire Stark, Anna Myers, and Brooke Ver Steeg have each surpassed 100 points this season. Klarenbeek also leads the conference with 72 assists.
 
Defensively, UMM averages 38.3 rebounds per game, the second-most in the conference. Mortenson leads the team with 132 rebounds, followed by Perry with 108, ranking sixth and ninth in the UMAC, respectively. Mortenson also leads the conference with 33 blocks, while Grove ranks second in the UMAC in steals with 55.
 
North Central enters the week with an overall record of 11–10 and sits fourth in the UMAC at 4–4 in conference play. The Rams won their lone game last week, defeating Crown College 69–58. Head coach David Rohrbach is in his second season with the program. Nini Davenport and Brycelyn Brewster pace the Rams' offense with 287 and 277 points, respectively.
 
In the first meeting between the teams, North Central earned an 88–82 overtime victory. Grove led Minnesota Morris with 20 points, while Perry recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Martin Luther holds an 11–11 overall record and is fifth in the conference at 4–5. The Knights are coming off an 0–2 week, falling to Bethany Lutheran College 43–37 and UW–Superior 59–42. Dan Gawrisch is in his 12th season as head coach. Mya Morris leads the team with 284 points, with Wilhelmina Wenz close behind at 256.
 
The Cougars and Knights opened UMAC play earlier this season with an 80–75 overtime victory for Minnesota Morris. Itzel Salazar knocked down a clutch three-pointer in the final seconds to seal the win. Klarenbeek led all scorers with 26 points, including six three-pointers.