Minneapolis, MN -- This evening, the North Central University (NCU) Women's Basketball team kicked off their season at home with a game against the Edgewood College (EC) Eagles. When these two teams met last year in Madison, WI, the Rams fell to the Eagles with a final score of 83-55. Today, NCU battled Edgewood to a twelve-point game when it was all said and done. Senior Kaitlyn VanderPloeg led the way with 24 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Unfortunately, her standout performance would not be enough to overcome the Eagles as North Central lost 68-56.

On North Central's first possession, grad transfer McKenzie Latzke knocked down a kick-out corner three to give her team an early lead. Kaitlyn VanderPloeg and Brycelyn Brewster led the NCU offensive attack with 14 of the team's 17 first-quarter points. The Rams trailed the Eagles 23-17 after the first ten minutes. Early in the second quarter, senior Piper Flemming cashed in from deep for her first points of the evening. With 7 minutes left in the half, North Central's offense went cold as they shot 1-10 from the field. Edgewood steadily grew their lead to 14 points ending the half up 42-28. 

VanderPloeg began the second half scoring for the Rams with a pair of paint buckets. Brewster followed that up with a pair of driving layups to start the half 2-2. This guard-post combo scored all 14 points for NCU in the third quarter as they found themselves trailing 55-42. First-year head coach, David Rohrbach, turned to a zone defense in the second half that started to give Edgewood fits. Junior guard Jackie Lindsay entered the scoring column to open the fourth with a mid-range jumper. After a VanderPloeg tip-in layup, Lindsay would drain her first three-pointer to cut the Eagles' lead to just seven with 4:59 to play. However, Edgewood was able to hold on to win 68-56 over the Rams. 
 

Top Performers: 

• Kaitlyn VanderPloeg: 24 points, 17 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks
• Brycelyn Brewster: 14 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals

Looking Ahead:

The Rams will remain at home on Wednesday, November 13th to face the St. Olaf Oles from Northfield, MN. The game is set to begin at 7:00 PM.

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on women's basketball and all things NCU Athletics.