Ashland, WI - In a game of scoring runs, the Northland College Lumberjills outscored the Martin Luther Knights 33-18 in the fourth quarter to come away with a 84-70 win.  This is the second consecutive UMAC conference win for the Jills. 
 
The Jills used their full court pressure to force early turnovers and jumped out to a 10-1 lead.  The Knights scored on the next two possessions, but NC controlled the rest of the quarter ending with a layup from Sophomore Lindsay Bressette.  The Jills were up 26-15 after the first quarter. 
 
The Knights came out firing and started the second quarter with a 6-0 run to get right back in the game, 26-21.  The score remained tight throughout the rest of the quarter and the Knights tied up the game at 31 with 2:26 left in the half.  Freshman Sarah Dunbar made a layup on the next play for the Jills as they took back the lead.  After a defensive stop,  Junior Sarah Houle was fouled and made both from the charity stripe to put the Jills up 4, 35-31.  The Knights didn't fold as they fired back with a 3-pointer to end the half only down one, 35-34. The Jills forced 16 first half turnovers but were outscored 19-9 in the second quarter.  

The Knights took their first lead as the third quarter began when they scored on their first two possessions.  Martin Luther began to take over offensively as they built their largest lead of 8, 48-40 midway through the quarter.  Bressette got inside to score again and nabbed a steal and fed Freshman Alex Espinoza to stop the Knights momentum.  Houle was fouled again and made both from the line which cut the Knights lead to 2, 48-46.  Freshman Miranda Wagner hit a floater in the lane on the next possession for NC to tie things up at 48 with 1:18 to go in the quarter.  Freshman Bailey Wynn split a pair from the line to put the Jills back on top.  The Knights took back the lead as the quarter wound down and led 52-51 going into the fourth quarter.  
 
The Jills locked in on both sides of the court and outscored the Knights 33-18 in the fourth quarter. The quarter was ignited by the tough full court pressure from the Jills. The pressure worn down the Knights and the Jills cruised to a 82-68 win.  Bressette, who scored 4 of her 18 points in the second half, attacked the Knights at the rim along with Freshman Bailey Wynn.  Wynn's shot wasn't falling early so she knew she had to do other things to score.  "Once I realized my shot wasn't quite on, I knew I had to get to the rim and find the open people."  Wynn finished with 23 for the Jills.  NC got some steady play on the interior from Houle who notched 12 points and 10 rebounds, including 8 offensive rebounds. Houle made a conscious effort before the game to focus on rebounding.  "I wanted to not worry about scoring so much and focus on rebounding and crashing as hard as I could on every possession."  NC forced 33 turnovers and had 16 steals.  Wagner also chipped in 17 points for the Jills.  Martin Luther was led by Emily Witkowski who had 20 points for the Knights.  

NC faces another tough test as they travel to Minneapolis Wednesday to face UMAC opponent, the Rams of North Central.