MINNEAPOLIS-- North Central led by double-figures for much of the second and third quarters before an injury took away momentum and Northland College wore down the short-handed Rams. The Jills used a decisive fourth quarter to take a 63-55 over North Central.

North Central (4-12, 1-8 UMAC) led by as many as 13 in the third quarter and looked to be in great position to get in the win column on Friday night. But the Rams lost starting point guard Sydney Steele (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) less than two minutes into the period after she made a great play to take a charge. But the opposing player fell directly on to Steele and the result was an injury that took her out of the game the rest of the way. North Central led 39-26 but from that point on Northland chipped away and led 48-46 by the end of the third quarter.

Northland would eventually lead by 12 before the Rams made a valiant effort to fight back but the Jills held on for the win.

KEY SEQUENCE OF THE GAME

Even with the loss of a key player the Rams had a chance to make a final last minute comeback late in the fourth quarter. Senior Jenna Cielocha (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) hit a pair of free throws with 1:45 left that made it 61-55. The Rams forced three contested shots on defense but each time Northland grabbed an offensive rebound. That eventually ran over a minute off the clock and resulted in free throws for the Jills.

Northland converted one of two free throws with 46 seconds left to make it 62-55. North Central got two good looks at scoring on the other end but they missed both and the Jills ran out the clock.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The game was as tight as the score indicated with both teams shooting around .370 from the floor with Northland making one more field goal
• The biggest difference was the 48 rebounds the Jills posted compared to 37 by NCU
• The Rams were just 2-10 from the three point line while Northland was 6-16
• NCU struggled at the free throw line going 9-16 (.563)

KEY PERFORMERS

Senior Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) was sattled with foul trouble but still posted 14 points and 14 rebounds on the night. Sophomore Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central) led NCU with 16 points while Jenna Cielocha added 11.

UP NEXT

North Central hosts Finlandia University (Houghton, Mich.) in a 5 p.m. non-conference game on Saturday evening.