Grand Forks, ND - The Northland College Lumberjills hit the road on Tuesday to play a tough D-1 team in the Fighting Hawks of the University of North Dakota. The Jills fell to the Hawks 118-35, but Northland saw a lot of positive things to build on going into the start of conference play next week.
The size and speed of the Hawks was apparent early when they went up 9-0 to start the game. Sophomore
Aja Gregg scored Northland's first basket of the game with 7:15 left in the first quarter. The Jills got a lot of good looks early in the game but couldn't convert and the Hawks took advantage of the Jills miscues. The Fighting Hawks led 25-10 after one quarter.
The Jills had multiple players out with injuries and the depth of the Hawks showed in the second quarter when they extended their lead to 57-15. Northland kept attacking the Hawks defense to draw fouls, but couldn't hit free-throws once they were in the bonus, going 1-10 from the charity stripe in the first half.
The Jills had a quick score to start the second half as Freshman
Ashley Lopez hit fellow Freshman
Miranda Wagner with a nice backdoor pass for the bucket. The Jills had some nice possessions in the third quarter, scoring on three straight possessions but the Fighting Hawks continued to roll as they led 88-28 after three quarters.
The short-handed Jills struggled to keep up with the Hawks in the final quarter as they kept subbing in fresh legs. The Jills fought until the end, but ultimately fell 118-35. Freshman
Bailey Wynn led the Jills with 12 points and Wagner chipped in 8. The Jills forced 11 Hawks turnovers and got 15 offensive rebounds against a significantly taller team. The Jills also applied tough full court pressure defense all game. The Jills easily handled the defensive pressure from the Hawks, led by starting point guard Lopez who finished with 5 assists. Megan Zander led the Hawks with 18 points.
Northland begins UMAC conference play next week when they host the Yellow Jackets of UW-Superior on Wednesday, December 4
th, in Ashland.
