Twice St. Scholastica would battle back from a second half deficit against visiting Northwestern College, but in the end the Eagles were able to fight off the Saints to take a 48-46 win in the Burns Wellness Commons on Saturday afternoon.

 

A 20-18 Eagles halftime lead was a result of stiff defense and poor shooting. St. Scholastica (9-12, 5-6 UMAC) hit only 6-of-29 shots for 20 percent while Northwestern (10-12, 8-3 UMAC) shot only 29 percent from the field.

 

The Eagles got hot, though, in the opening minutes of the second half, racing out to a 29-18 lead.

 

St. Scholastica staged their first rally, using full-court pressure that caused the Eagles to eventually finish with 18 turnovers, and tied the score at 34-34 on an Alexa Leighton (Superior, Wis./Superior HS) short jumper from in the paint with 6:34 to play.

 

Northwestern once again went on a run after the tie score, jumping ahead 46-38 with only 1:23 left on the clock, but the Saints began another rally.

 

A Whitney Latham (Clear Lake, Minn./Becker HS) 3-pointer trimmed the margin to five but Northwestern sank a pair of free throws to stretch things back out to seven.

 

Kirsten Haukom (Marshall, Minn./Marshall HS) sank a driving layup with 11 ticks left and the Saints fouled Northwestern's Kelly Zuleger on the inbounds. Zuleger missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with Latham snaring the rebound.

 

Haukom sank a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left and once again the Saints, now down by only two, fouled on the inbounds play.

 

Northwestern's Ariel Liesch missed her first of a 1-and-1 situation with the rebound again going to the Saints.

 

With only two ticks on the clock the best the Saints could muster was a hail-Mary shot at the basket that failed to find rim, ending the comeback for St. Scholastica and handing the Eagles the victory.

 

Latham led the Saints with 12 points while Liesch had a team-high 12 for the Eagles.

 

Both teams improved their shooting in the second half with the Eagles ending up hitting 34 percent of their shots while the Saints finished at 36 percent.

 

**SAINTS**