MANKATO, Minn. – North Central women's basketball kicked off its final weekend of the 2016-17 season in Mankato on Friday night, taking on the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings. Despite a strong fourth quarter, the Rams couldn't overcome a slow start and dropped the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference contest by a final of 60-72.

North Central jumped on the board first, just 30 seconds into the game, on a layup by sophomore Sydney Steele (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy). For the next several minutes, both teams traded punches before the Vikings went on 14-3 run to finish out the first quarter. NCU's scoring drought was broken up only by a three-pointer from freshman Rachel Stevenson (Ramsey, Minn./PACT), and the Rams found themselves down 20-9 after the first 10 minutes of play.

Bethany Lutheran (Mankato, Minn.) continued to dominate offensively in the second quarter, as the Vikings dropped a trio of three-pointers in just 63 seconds that the Rams struggled to answer. BLC extended its lead to 17 right before halftime, and a buzzer-beating layup sent NCU into the locker room trailing 40-23.

The third quarter echoed much of the first half, with Bethany Lutheran going on a 13-0 run midway through the frame to take its largest lead of the night at 57-27. However, the Rams began to fight their way back in the remaining minutes of the third and carried that momentum into a monster fourth quarter. In the final 14 minutes of the game, North Central outscored Bethany Lutheran 33-15. Six different Rams scored on that run, led by junior Lizzy Swanson (Askov, Minn./East Central), who scored eight of her game-high 17 points in the surge, and junior Haley Modahl (Minneapolis, Minn./Edison), who added six to help the Rams pulled within 10 points with less than three minutes remaining in the game. However, the North Central's push stopped there, and the Vikings scored a few late free throws to seal the game.

Freshman Annabel Morrisroe (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) continued to dominate the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds—five more than any other player in the contest. She also added 16 points. Steele chipped in another nine, and Modahl and Stevenson each scored seven. As a team, the Rams shot .328 from the field.

The conference season wraps up on Saturday afternoon as North Central (6-17 overall, 3-12 UMAC) travels to Martin Luther College (9-15, 7-8) for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off. The Rams will then close out their season on Monday night at Finlandia University (6-15) in a make-up game that has been rescheduled twice due to poor travel conditions.