Ashland, WI - The Northland College Lumberjills put a together a spirited second half comeback against perennial UMAC conference powerhouse UW-Superior, but their comeback attempt ultimately fell short.  The Lumberjills fell to Superior 79-66 on Wednesday night in Ashland.  The Yellowjackets came out strong and used their size inside when Northland failed to box out and fouled UWS on the putback attempt.  The Yellowjackets took an early 2-0 lead but the Lumberjills countered as Sophomore Aja Gregg scored inside on a nice pass from Freshman Sarah Dunbar.   Northland College got a lot of good looks both inside and outside in the first quarter but couldn't convert those looks into points.  The Lumberjills also struggled from the free throw line in the first period and the Yellowjackets' strong offensive rebounding helped them jump out to a 26-10 lead after the first quarter.  
 
The second quarter started with UWS extending their lead to 32-10 and then Gregg made a pair of free throws after being fouled to put the Lumberjills on the scoreboard for the second quarter.  Northland continued to get the shots they wanted but couldn't knock them down.  UWS shot very well in the first half, making 48.6% of their field goals and 70% from the charity stripe.  The Lumberjills shot 18.5% and 52.6% from the free throw line, missing 10 of 19 attempts.  Northland's poor shooting and size disadvantage down low allowed the Yellowjackets to extend their lead to 44-20 at halftime. 
 
The Lumberjills came out of the locker room and looked like a completely different team.  Northland began to find their rhythm and upped their level of intensity at the start of the second half. Despite UWS scoring the first points of the second half, Gregg had a nice offensive rebound and scored on the next possession for Northland.  The Lumberjills began to slowly chip away at the Yellowjackets lead.  Dunbar had a great back door pass to Gregg for a bucket and on the next possession, Dunbar was fouled and made the shot and the free throw for 3 points the hard way to get the Lumberjills within 23.  A few possessions later, Freshman Miranda Wagner got a steal and fed fellow Freshman Bailey Wynn for a layup brining NC closer at 54-35.  The next basket for the Lumberjills also came from Wynn as Sophomore Lindsay Bressette found Wynn on the wing for a 3-pointer.  UWS maintained their lead for the rest of the quarter, but Freshman Ashley Lopez gave NC momentum going into the final period as she hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter off a nice pass from Bressette.  The score was 61-43 after three quarters.  
 
Northland really locked in on their full court defensive pressure in the final quarter and their tough defense led to some much needed offensive spurts.  With 3:30 to go in the final quarter, the Lumberjills cut the lead down to 14, 74-60, after Junior Sarah Houle split a pair of free throws.  Freshman Alex Espinoza got a steal on the next NC possession and fed Wynn for another layup brining the Lumberjills within 12, 74-62.  With 2:30 left in the game, the Lumberjills cut the UWS lead down to single digits when Dunbar came up with a steal and found Espinoza underneath bringing NC within 9 at 75-66, but that was as close as NC would get.  In the final two minutes, the Lumberjills had some turnovers and the Yellowjackets came up with some crucial buckets along with hitting their free throws.  UWS took home the win with the final score of 79-66.  Wynn led the Lumberjills with 12 points and she also tallied 3 steals.  When asked what was different about the Lumberjills' play in the second half, Wynn said, "We started to believe in ourselves and that really changed how we played.  We were more confident and did things we were capable of.  We also started to apply more pressure on both sides of the ball and that is where we really started to see improvement."  Gregg chipped in 10 for Northland and Bressette had 5 steals.  The Lumberjills forced 22 Yellowjacket turnovers while only committing 13 turnovers themselves.  Missed opportunities at the free throw line hurt the Lumberjills as they only made 19 of 34 attempts in the game.  
 
Pasha Scott led the Yellowjackets with 17 points.  Northland College is on the road on Saturday as they travel to another UMAC opponent, the Cougars of Minnesota-Morris.