Cougar women fall to Northwestern

After earning a first-round bye with the No. 2 seed, the University of Minnesota, Morris women's basketball team was eliminated from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament with a 73-59 loss to Northwestern Friday at the P.E. Center.

Fresh off a 75-58 win over Presentation Tuesday, the Eagles advanced to the championship game Sunday where they were defeated by Northland College 57-45.

The Cougars only trailed by seven (38-31) at halftime, but the Eagles opened up a 19-point lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game.

The Eagles out shot the Cougars hitting 50 percent of their shots from the floor in both halves, while the Cougars were shooting at 48 percent in the first half and fell to 23 percent in the second half.

The Cougars shot four of 19 from behind the arch, while the Eagles put in nine of 22.

At the free-throw line the Cougars were 13-of-19 and the Eagles were 10-of-12.

Coresa Leighty just missed a double-double scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

The only other Cougar in double digits was Hancock freshman Jenni Noordmans with 10 points.

Also scoring for the Cougars were Diane Blommel with seven, Kara Norris with six, Jamie Rainey and Nikki Washek with five apiece, Steph Roggenbuck with three, and Joy Heysse with two.

Rainey dished out a team-high nine assists.