ELLENDALE, N.D.-- Women's Basketball never trailed and pulled away in the second half to defeat host Trinity Bible College, 61-41, in the NCCAA Regional Championship game on Saturday. The win earned the Rams an automatic berth in the NCCAA National Championship Tournament.

North Central (10-17, 5-0 NCCAA Region) scored on their first possession and slowly put distance between themselves and Trinity Bible College throughout the first half. The host Lions kept things close for most of the first 20 minutes before NCU went to the half up 27-18.

Trinity would be the agressor out of the break getting within 29-27 over the first four minutes of the second half. But North Central responded with six straight points including a steal and lay-up from sophomore Jenna Cielocha (Elk River, Minn./Rochester TC) that made it 35-27 with 13:26 left.

Another six point run by the Rams made it 45-31 near the halfway point of the second half and the Rams began to enforce their will on the game. North Central scored on 10 of their final final 16 possessions and refused to allow any late rallies by Trinity.

Senior Shelby Norman (Winsted, Minn./Watertown-Meyer) led the Rams with 16 points. Junior and Region MVP Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) added 14 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists. Freshman Lizzy Swanson scored 13 points with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Over the two regional play off games Jamie High averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds. Lizzy Swanson averaged 17 points in her first NCCAA post season action and Shelby Norman averaged 14 points in her final regional tournament to give the Rams balanced scoring that earned them a region title.

The Rams will now await the annual NCCAA National Tournament seeding conference call later this weekend. The seeding will decide the opponents and shape the bracket for the 2015 NCCAA National Tournament. The national tournament will be hosted by Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) on March 12-14. Match-ups will be posted as soon as they are announced.