NEW ULM, Minn.-- For the first time this season North Central University Women's Basketball can say they are on a win streak in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play. They earned that momentum by upseting Martin Luther College 51-45 on the road on Friday night. NCU used a strong night on the glass and a scoring breakthrough from Jorie Grenell to defeat the third place team in the UMAC in New Ulm.

After defeating Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minn.) at home last Saturday, the Rams began a five game road stretch on Friday that will wrap up their regular season. North Central (7-14, 3-8) began that stretch by traveling to Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) on Friday for a game in one of the best home court advantages in the UMAC.

NCU had won just one conference game in the last seven but Friday night saw a young Rams team live up to the potential possessed by a squad with just one senior. They battled the Knights to just a 24-22 halftime deficit before making a run midway through the second half to take the lead.

Neither team led by more than nine points in a closely contested game that saw North Central take the lead for the first time in the second half on a three point basket from junior Jorie Grenell (Lakeville, Minn./Spring Lake Park) with 13:11 left in the game. Over the next two minutes the Rams pushed the margin to 39-30 before the Knights began fighting back to keep things tight the rest of the way.

Martin Luther got to within 47-44 with around 3 minutes left but the Rams responded well down the stretch to keep control of the game by holding the Knights to just a single free throw the rest of the way.

Junior Jorie Grenell led all scorers with 23 points. Senior Elisabeth Trickey (Waseca, Minn./Waseca) added 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals after missing last Saturday's game with an injury.

Sophomore Melissa Kidd (Spring Lake Park, Minn./Spring Lake Park) added 8 points and 6 rebounds.

North Central outrebounded the Knights by a 47-40 margin. The Knights came in as the second best rebounding team in the UMAC averaging 41.2 boards a game.

North Central will be back in action at Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday afternoon. The Rams will tip off with the Vikings at 3 p.m.