Minneapolis, MN -- Tonight, the North Central University (NCU) women's basketball team returned to Minneapolis for their second regular season meeting with the Martin Luther College (MLC) Knights. In the first meeting, NCU walked away victorious with a commanding 96-69 win on the Knights home court. However, Martin Luther has been hot as of late, winning its last 5 games and taking down the then top-seeded Minnesota Morris Cougars a week ago. Tonight, junior Kaitlyn VanderPloeg posted her third double-double of the year with 17 points and 11 rebounds. However, the visitors would carry their momentum and confidence into tonight's game as well and North Central would lose 68-61 and fall to 5th seed in the UMAC.
Points would be hard to come by in the first quarter of action as both teams struggled to find a rhythm. The Knights took the first lead of the game, but the Rams would answer back to keep things knotted up. Sophomore Caitlyn Ryan gave NCU its first lead of the game at 6-4 off a layup assisted by senior Joelle Talso. Neither team was able to mount any significant scoring run as they each shot about 25% from the field in the first 10 minutes. MLC went ahead 10-9 with 3:19 remaining in the quarter. A scoreless final three minutes would leave Martin Luther in the lead.
The Knights scored on their first possession out of the break. The first few minutes of action went back and forth with Martin Luther eventually taking the 15-13 slight advantage. The Knights sustained that lead all the way through to the final seconds of the half. With 7 seconds to go, NiNi Davenport would find forward Kaitlyn VanderPloeg in the lane for two to put the Rams up one at 27-26 heading into halftime. North Central picked up steam in the second quarter of play, shooting an improved 64.29% (9-14) from the field.
Much like the first quarter, the teams started off slow once again with the first bucket not coming until the 7:30 mark by MLC. Senior Kayla Hola would quickly answer with a jumper of her own to tie things at 29-29. The teams traded baskets before freshman NiNi Davenport connected on a three-ball to give her team the 34-33 advantage. With 35 seconds left in the quarter, the Knights banged home a three-pointer of their own to retake the lead at 42-40 headed into the final quarter of play.
Joelle Talso quickly tied the game at 42-all on the Ram's first possession. However, Martin Luther then scored 5 straight to take the lead once again. An emphatic and-one play from Kaitlyn VanderPloeg tied this one once again, this time at 47-47. Each team then worked themselves to the charity stripe on multiple different occasions, something that Martin Luther was very effective with as they shot 18-24 from the free throw line tonight. MLC then went on an 8-1 run to take their biggest lead of the night with just 1:19 to play. On the very next play, Caitlyn Ryan waited no time by driving to the rack and converting to cut the lead to just 6. A huge three-pointer by Talso eventually cut the lead to just 4 with 41 seconds to go. However, the Knights were solid from the free-throw line to close this one out and the Rams could not find the back of the net again. Martin Luther won this one 68-61 over North Central and has jumped the Rams in the UMAC standings.
Top Performers:
Looking Ahead:
The women will have a quick turnaround as they host the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings tomorrow for their first ever Homecoming Gameday! That one is set to tip-off at 3:00 PM at Clark Danielson Gymnasium.
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.
