Mount Vernon, IA -- The North Central University (NCU) women's basketball team journeyed to southeastern Iowa to face off with the Cornell College (CC) Rams. Both of these squads came into tonight's game after losing their last contests. Tonight's game would be a tale of turnovers as North Central would commit 24 total TOs to just 9 from Cornell. The Cornell College Rams came out on top in this one 61-56 over NCU.
Cornell would jump out to a 7-2 lead early in the first quarter. Sophomore guard Mia Mabanag would then score in the paint and drop a three-pointer to tie things up at 7-7 with 5:31 remaining. Mabanag is coming off a career high 29-point performance against Luther in the team's last contest. CC closed out the first quarter on a 9-2 run to lead NCU 19-9 heading into the second.
The second quarter would start off quite sloppy as the teams committed 5 straight turnovers and remained scoreless until Cornell converted on a jumper. The teams would trade baskets with the Rams facing a 9-point deficit at 22-13. North Central then scored 6 unanswered to cut it to just three with 4:25 until halftime. However, this momentum would be squashed as the Cornell Rams sank a step-back jump and the teams went back and forth for the rest of the half. Caitlyn Ryan and Mia Mabang would lead the Rams in scoring with 8 and 7 points, respectively. Cornell held a 27-23 lead heading into the break.
Kaitlyn VanderPloeg got the Rams on the board first in the second half off the dish from Joelle Talso. NCU would bring the game to within two at 30-28 off the make by Joelle Talso. They would eventually gain their first lead of the contest after the successful and-one from leading scorer Caitlyn Ryan. However, Cornell responded quickly with a strike from 3-point range. With 15 seconds to play Mia Mabanag would find Alaysia Rusch for her first three of the game to retake the lead for just the second time tonight. NCU committed a foul with just ticks left in the quarter and the Cornell Rams would be able to tie the game at 40-40 heading into the final quarter of play.
North Central would find themselves trailing by 5 points with just over 5 minutes remaining when NiNi Davenport would come alive as she drilled two huge threes to re-take the lead. Senior Kayla Hola would get the timely rejection on defense to spark the second of these two threes. Unfortunately, Cornell would be able to score 10 unanswered to take a comfortable 57-48 lead with 1:20 left. NiNi Davenport connected on yet another three to bring the game to within 6. On NCU's next possession, Mia Mabanag was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free throws to cut the deficit to just 4 with 38 seconds to play. However, the Rams could not convert on another three-pointer and would be forced to resort to intentional fouls. Cornell College would hold on to win 61-56.
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Looking Ahead:
The Rams will jump back into Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play with a cross-town matchup with the University of Northwestern Eagles on Saturday, January 6th. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. in St. Paul.
All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages for updates on women's basketball and all things NCU Athletics.
