The Northland College Lumberjills overcame poor shooting and a sluggish first half to pull away from the Alverno College Inferno, 95-78 at the Mount Mary Classic in Milwaukee on Saturday.  The Lumberjills only scored 32 points through the first two quarters and then responded with 63 points in the final two quarters.  Northland's full court defensive pressure really wore down the short bench of Alverno College.

Northland's Sophomore Lindsay Bressette put the games first points on the board to put the Lumberjills up 2-0.  The Inferno came back with a score and both teams traded buckets before  before Freshman Sarah Dunbar hit a 3 from the corner to put Northland up 7-5.  Despite full court pressure from Northland, Alverno continued to score and both teams ended the first quarter tied up at 18.

Fouls started to mount for the Lumberjills as the second quarter rolled on and the Inferno used their good free throw shooting and 3-pointers from sharpshooter Sara Redlin to extend their lead to 35-28 with 3:00 minutes to go in the quarter.  Sophomore Aja Gregg cut their lead to 5 with a bucket but then Alverno responded offensively and caught Northland not rotating on defense and the Inferno hit a layup at the end of the half to go up 43-32 at the end of two quarters.  The Inferno capitalized on the 11 first half Lumberjill turnovers and got 10 points off the Northland miscues.

The Lumberjills came out focused and determined defensively in the second half.  To start the quarter, Sophomore Bianca Avalos got a steal and made a layup, then Freshman Miranda Wagner got a steal on the next possession and kicked it to fellow Freshman Ashley Lopez for another layup to cut the lead to 45-36.  Northland continued to cut into the Alverno lead and Freshman Sarah Dunbar got on offensive rebound and laid the ball in to cut it to 5 at 47-42.  As the third quarter went on and the defensive pressure wore down the Inferno, the Lumberjills took their first lead of the second half at 47-45 off a 3-pointer from Dunbar with just under 6:00 to go in the quarter.  Alverno fought back and cut into the lead but Junior Sarah Houle put back a Bressette miss at the buzzer to give the Lumberjills a 63-60 lead after 3 quarters.

Northland's conditioning work early on in preseason paid off as the Lumberjills came out running and outscored the Inferno 32-18 in the final quarter, led by an impressive offensive performance from Bressette who finished with a game high 24 points, and a great all around game from Wagner who had 20 points and 5 steals.  "I was more confident and less nervous than our first game.  I just really trusted in our team and wanted to keep running and really push the pace of the game," said Wagner.  Bressette scored 15 of her 24 in the second half and was determined to not let her team lose when she took the game over offensively.

Northland forced 28 turnovers and had 19 steals.  The Lumberjills also got extremely aggressive on the offensive rebounds and scored 33 2nd chance points.  Freshman Eniya Madden led the Inferno with 23 points.  Northland has its home opener on Tuesday against UWSP.  Tip off is set for 5:30 pm in Ashland.

Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.