MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Women's Basketball kept things within reach before falling short in a loss to Martin Luther College on Friday night. North Central never allowed the Knights enough distance to run away but the visitors held the Rams at bay in a 78-65 loss in CLC Gymnasium.

North Central trailed by as many as 15 in the first half before fighting back to within two possessions with less than a minute remaining in opening period. MLC took a 37-22 lead with 5:08 on the clock before the Rams rallied furiously to cut the difference to 39-34 les than four minutes later. But the Knights hit a three point basket and got a steal and lay-up in the last 75 seconds of the half and took a 44-35 lead to the locker room.

North Central shot took 14 less shots than the Knights in the first twenty minutes but allowed 11 MLC offensive rebounds and that difference would haunt the Rams the rest of the way. The second half saw the Rams shooting percentage tumble and though they did tighten up on the glass their lack of scoring over the last 20 minutes proved to much to overcome.

The Knights would push their lead out to as many as 17 toward the middle of the second half before a final Rams surge gave them a glimmer of hope. With 2:23 left senior Jorie Grenell (Lakeville, Minn./Spring Lake Park) hit a three point shot that made it 73-63 and sophomore Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) pulled down an MLC miss their next trip. High then snagged an offensive rebound and found Grenell who laid it in to make it 73-65 with 1:21 left. But that was as close as NCU could get.

Jorie Grenell scored a game high 24 points to move to within just 10 points of the Rams all-time scoring mark. Sophomore Shelby Norman (Winsted, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) scored 15 points, all in the second half, and pulled down six rebounds. Jamie High recorded a double-double of 13 points and 10 boards with 3 blocks, 3 assists and 3 steals.

North Central gets back to action on Saturday with a 3 p.m. tip-off at home versus Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn.).