Box Score Box score
The Saints were coming off a mid-week win and hoped to establish some momentum as they entered conference action on Saturday evening at Northland College, but the LumberJills didn't cooperate and handed the Saints a 72-68 defeat in Ashland, Wis., dropping St. Scholastica to 2-6 overall and 0-1 in the UMAC.
Northland evened their overall record at 3-3 and starts their conference slate off with a 1-0 mark.
For most of the first half the two teams battled back and fourth as the lead changed hands five times and the two were tied on seven different occasion.
But early in the second half the 'Jills were able to stretch their 35-29 halftime lead into an 11 point margin with a 12-2 run.
For most of the second half Northland enjoyed a double-digit lead but with the score at 70-61 with 29 seconds to play the Saints made a furious comeback that put them on the brink of pulling out the win, only to fall just short.
Whitney Latham (Clear Lake, Minn./Becker HS) started the comeback with a three-pointer to trim the lead to six. Following a LumberJill free throw that made it 71-64 Megan Downs (Mt. Iron, Minn./Mt. Iron-Buhl HS) was fouled and stepped to the line.
Sinking both of her free throw attempts, Downs pulled the Saints closer at 71-66.
With 13 seconds to play, Kirsten Haukom (Marshall, Minn./Marshall HS) made a steal and layup to pull the Saints within three with the clock now under 10 seconds.
Forced to foul, Northland's Melissa Waytashek sank only her second of two free throw attempts but that one point put the 'Jills ahead by four, making it a two possession game with only five seconds on the clock.
Katie Cross (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson HS)' three-point attempt rimmed out as the buzzer sounded and with that, the near-miraculous rally was over.
Downs led all scorers on the night with 20 points including hitting 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line. Latham added 17 for the Saints.
Cross led St. Scholastica in rebounding with eight, but Northland out rebounded the Saints 35 to 28.
Chelsea Lundgren and Lindsey Hamm led Northland in scoring, each with 19 points. Hamm also had a game-high 10 rebounds.
