Ashland, WI -- After a loss to Wisconsin-Superior, the North Central University (NCU) women's basketball team would make the trip to Ashland to take on the Lumberjills of Northland College (NC). The two teams last met on January 23rd in which the Rams dominated the Jills winning by a final score of 91-36 at home. North Central would head into enemy territory looking to complete a season sweep of Northland. The Blue and Gold would do just that as they were able to win this one by a final score of 76-38. 

Kaitlyn VanderPloeg would waste no time as she would go on an 8-0 run to open up this one. The Rams would hold the Lumberjills to just six points in the first quarter while they would put up 18. VanderPloeg would lead the Ram's scorers with 10 points after the first quarter. 

Looking to chip away at the Rams' 12-point lead, the Lumberjills would open up the scoring in the second quarter with a midrange jumper to make the score 18-8. VanderPloeg would take advantage of an and-one opportunity to increase the North Central lead to 21-8. The Lumberjills would eventually make the score 27-13 still in favor of the Rams but NCU would go on a 6-0 run to pull away as their score increased to 33-13. The first half would end with North Central up 35-14. 

In the third quarter, the Rams would outscore the Lumberjills 28-12 increasing their lead to 63-26. NCU would go on a 12-0 run to end the third quarter as they would continue their domination of Northland College. The Rams would be up big by a score of 63-26 going into the fourth and final quarter. 

In the final quarter, North Central would lockdown the Lumberjills as Northland would fail to make any dent in the Rams' lead. The NCU lead would be too big for Northland to make any sort of comeback. The Rams would win this one by a final score of 76-38 and improve to 6-4 in conference play. 
 

Top Performers:

• #40 VanderPloeg - 15 pts, 4 reb, 1 blk 
• #5 Davenport - 11 pts
• #13 Howe - 9 pts, 5 reb, 1 blk

Looking Ahead:

The women will come back home to start a 4 game homestand to close out the 2023-24 regular season. Their next game will be on Friday, February 9th against Martin Luther College. Tipoff is set for 5:30 pm, hope to see you there!

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.