JOPLIN, Mo.-- Women's Basketball battled through three games in three days with a short bench and made North Central Women's Basketball history. The Rams defeated Pensacola Christian College 70-66 in a gutsy performance headlined by Jamie High and Lizzy Swanson posting big numbers and earning NCU their highest finish ever at the NCCAA National Championship Tournament. 

North Central (12-18) came out on the short end of their opening round game at the 2015 NCCAA Division II National Championship Tournament on Thursday. They lost 73-62 to eventual national runner-up Central Christian College of the Bible (Moberly, Mo.) after struggling to score in the first half shooting less than 32 percent.

Friday North Central rebounded by defeating seven seed Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) 69-55 on the strength of junior Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) posting 26 points and 26 rebounds while freshman Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central) also posted 20 points while senior Shelby Norman (Winsted, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) added 15. The win moved the Rams into Saturday's national fifth place game, but they would be without junior Jenna Cielocha (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) who was injured in the late stages of the game.

The Rams came out ready to make the most of their opportunity on Saturday and stormed out to a big lead right away against Pensacola Christian College (Pensacola, Fla.). North Central scored first and jumped out to a 17-6 lead less than five minutes into the game. The Rams would lead by as much as 19 before going to halftime up 50-32. 

After firing .500 (16-32) in the first half the Rams would struggle to score in the second 20 minutes. North Central went the first five minutes of the second half before scoring on a pair of free throws from Lizzy Swanson. Eventually Pensacola chiseled the Rams lead to 54-47 before North Central got their first field goal of the half from Jamie High with 9:37 to go in the game. 

Pensacola continued to fight back and the shorthanded Rams found themselves in a battle with both their on court opponents and fatigue from 120 minutes of basketball in a three day span. Lizzy Swanson hit a jumper with 7:29 remaining that made it 58-49 but North Central then went another three minutes without scoring and PCC managed to tie the game at 58-58 for the first time since the opening minute.

Jamie High would go 1-2 at the free throw line on the Rams trip but PCC would score on their next possession to take their first lead of the game, 60-59. High would draw another foul and hit both free throws to make it 61-60 with 2:49 left in the game. Pensacola then retook the lead 62-61 before High again went 1-2 at the free throw line to tie it up with 2:10 left.

North Central trailed once again, 66-64, with just 1:17 to go in the game before a 1-2 trip to the line for freshman Marissa Kari (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) and Jamie High forced a turnover on defense to give the Rams a chance to retake the lead with 42 seconds remaining. High would get the ball down low and powered it up and in to give the Rams a 67-66 advantage with 30 seconds on the clock. 

After the Rams forced a tough shot Jamie High pulled down a huge rebound and was fouled. She hit one of two but on the missed second free throw Pensacola mishandled the rebound out of bounds. NCU inbounded to High who was quickly fouled and converted both free throws to ice the game.

Jamie High once again proved worthy of her first team NCCAA All-American award bestowed on Wednesday night by dominating the game with 28 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Lizzy Swanson proved to be one of the top young players in the NCCAA by scoring 21 points in the win and posting a 21.3 point per game average in the first three NCCAA National Tournament games of her career. Marissa Kari was also instrumental in the game, posting a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. 

Overall on the week Jamie High posted averages of 24.6 points and 18.6 rebounds per game. She played 117 of a possible 120 minutes over three games in three consecutive days. The victory in the fifth place game gives North Central their highest ever finish at the NCCAA National Championship Tournament.