JOPLIN, Mo.-- Women's Basketball suffered a disapointing loss in the opening round of the NCCAA Division II National Tournament on Thursday but recovered to get a 69-55 victory on Friday over Ozark Christian College. Jamie High posted a historical peformance and the Rams advanced to Saturday's NCCAA National fifth place game.

North Central (11-18) struggled in their opening game at the 2015 National Christian College Athletic Association Division II National Championship Tournament on Thursday. After keeping pace with third seed Central Christian College of the Bible (Moberly, Mo.) early on the Rams fell behind midway through the first half and could not keep pace with the Saints. CCC shot .486 (17-35) including 5-11 from the three point line to take a 39-25 lead into the break.

Out of the locker room CCC only pulled further away from NCU and closed the final 20 minutes by increasing their field goal percentage. The Rams who shot just .310 in the first half improved to .480 (12-25) in the second frame but could not match the .577 (15-26) their opponents fired. The Rams ended up outscoring the Saints in the final 20 minutes but it was not enough in a 73-62 loss.

Freshman Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central) led the Rams with 23 points on 7-10 shooting from the floor. Junior Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) added 20 points and 15 rebounds along with 3 blocked shots. Unfortunately the Rams lost junior Jenna Cielocha (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) late in the game with an ankle injury.

Friday the Rams would have a chance to bounce back in the consolation bracket. They took on host and eight seed Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.). Out of the gate NCU fell behind 4-0 in the first minute of the game. Eventually, the Rams would claw back and take the lead for the first time at the 16:36 mark when Jamie High hit a jumper that made it 9-8. The Rams would lead until the Ambassadors hit a three pointer with 4:37 left in the half that pushed them in front 27-26. Jamie High grabbed the lead back for the Rams on the next possession with another jumper and NCU would do enough to lead 33-32 at halftime.

North Central was the first team to score out of the locker room with a three point shot from senior Shelby Norman (Winsted, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) with 18:18 left. The game would have several more momentum swings but the Rams would manage to stay in front the rest of the way. At several points OCC would cut the difference to one point but North Central always found a way to answer. The first came when Ozark hit a three that trimmed a one time six point advantage to just 38-37 with 16:51 left. Freshman Marissa Kari (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) got a lay-up on the next Rams trip and after a stop, Shelby Norman hit a pair free throws that made it a two posession game once again. NCU pushed the difference out to 44-37 with 12:54 remaining.

The host would fight back and got within 50-48 with 7:58 leff and had a chance to tie or take the lead before NCU got a stop. Jamie High got a lay-up and after another defensive stop Lizzy Swanson hit a big three pointer that made it 55-48 with 6:21 left. The teams traded empty possessions over the next two minutes before Swanson scored again on a drive that made it 57-48 with 4:36 to go. Ozark got back within 57-52 but a quick 6-0 run by the Rams pushed the difference to 63-52 with less than 3 minutes left and that secured the victory.

Jamie High posted a monster night of 26 points and 26 rebounds to lead the Rams. Her rebound total was the second most in a single game in Rams history. She also moved to 477 points on the year, the third best single season total for an NCU player. She also became the eighth NCU player in program history to score over 1100 career points. High needs 13 more rebounds to move into second all time in career rebounding.

Lizzy Swanson continued her impressive debut at the national tournament by posting 20 points. Shelby Norman was a key factor as the third scorer for the Rams who had to balance a shortened bench. Norman added 15 points and 5 rebounds.

The Rams will play in tomorrow's NCCAA National fifth place game against fifth seed Pensacola Christian College (Pensacola, Fla.). The game is set for a 3 p.m. CST tip-off. A live video webcast is available here ($6.95 fee).