MINNEAPOLIS-- Women's Basketball responding to a heartbreaking last second loss on Friday with a character building victory on Saturday evening. After trailing at the half and being challenged by a pressing and trapping opponent all night, North Central made plays at the right time to earn a 60-46 win over Crown College.

North Central (3-6, 1-2 UMAC) suffered a painful loss on Friday when the University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) hit a game winning three pointer with 10 seconds left that gave them a 59-58 win over the Rams. But North Central came out ready to compete on Saturday and scored the first five points of the game and led 21-14 after a quarter of action.

In the second quarter the Rams showed signs of fatigue as they shot just 2-13 (.154) from the floor. Crown took advantage by firing 7-14 over the same stretch and outscored NCU 17-8 in the quarter. The Storm led 31-26 before sophomore Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central) hit a three pointer at the close of the half to get NCU with 31-29 at the break.

In the third quarter the Rams used their defense to affect the game holding Crown to just three field goals over the ten minutes. North Central outscored the Storm 14-6 during the third while nabbing five steals and forcing 7 Storm turnovers. NCU would hold a 43-37 advantage at the end of three stanzas.

Crown would get back within 43-41 on a pair of free throws with 9 minutes to play but North Central never surrendered the lead and answered every surge the visitors offered up. A three pointer from Lizzy Swanson with 3:18 remaining gave NCU a 56-44 lead and North Central would hold a double-figure advantage the rest of the way to earn the win.

Lizzy Swanson equalled a game high with 19 points, 4 assists and 2 steals. Senior Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) also posted 19 points as part of a double-double that included 10 rebounds, 6 steals and 2 blocks. High needs just two more rebounds to become the second player with 1000 points and 1000 rebounds in an NCU career. Sophomore Marissa Kari (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) added 11 points.

North Central is now off from competition until the new year. They will open the 2016 portion of their schedule with a road UMAC game at the University of Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.) on January 2 at 5 p.m.