JOPLIN, Mo.-- Women's Basketball made it difficult for second seed Arlington Baptist College for a half on Thursday. In the second half the Patriots buried the Rams with a flurry of three point shooting to pull away for a 99-66 win over North Central in the opening round of the NCCAA National Championship Tournament.

It was going to take great effort and great execution for North Central to pull an upset in the opening round of the NCCAA National Tournament. After the first two quarters it looked like they were in position to pull off that upset. The Rams trailed just 43-37 at halftime and looked to have a shot at making things interesting in the second half.

Unfortunately for the Rams they struggled on offense in the third quarter with just five field goals and the Patriots pulled away with a 35-17 scoring advantage over the third, ten minute segment. North Central could not recover and ABC ran away with the win.

KEY SEQUENCE OF THE GAME

The final five minutes of the third quarter separated the two teams for good as the Patriots pulled away and the Rams simply could not keep up. In the quarter ABC was 6-8 from behind the three point line.

After the Rams got within 49-40 with 8:10 to play in the third quarter, the Patriots outscored NCU 19-9 over the last five minutes of the stanza and firmly established control of the game.

KEY PERFORMERS OF THE GAME

Senior Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) added 20 points and 13 rebounds to her resume. Sophomore Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central) did not have her most efficient night but did score 19 points. Sophomore Marissa Kari (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) added 12 points and 6 rebounds.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Patriots only outshot the Rams .486 to .426 but took 11 more shots and made 9 more field goals
• A game that was closer than the score for most of three quarters was blown open by the Patriots 17 made three pointers while the Rams made just 2-16
• NCU out-rebounded ABC 38-35
• 26 Rams turnovers led to 37 Patriot points

UP NEXT

North Central continues play in the consolation bracket on Friday. The Rams will take on sixth seed and tournament host Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) at 4 p.m.