Northland Women's Basketball opened the season on the road with a 91-47 loss at UW-Stevens Point.

Box Score

The Northland College Women's Basketball team returned to the hardwood on Tuesday night for the season opening contest. Playing on the road at UW-Stevens Point the LumberJills were unable to get the offense going early as they dropped the game 91-47.

Stevens point began the game on a 9-0 run before Miranda Wagner's jumper got Northland on the board for the first time this season. Several minutes later Ashley Lopez hit a three pointer with 4:45 left in the quarter to shrink the Pointer's lead to seven. After a Stevens Point layup and a made free throw Wagner hit another jumper for the Jills. Several free throws and a layup for the Pointers grew their lead to thirteen before Rhonda Cole made her first basket of the season. Wagner hit another jumper with 53 seconds left in the quarter, but a Pointer three pointer grew the lead to 24-11 at the first intermission. 

Bailey Wynn opened the scoring for the LumberJills in the second quarter. Her ten points off the bench in the game tied for the game high in bench points. Stevens Point used a 12-0 run to grow the lead to twenty three before Hayley Humphrey hit back-to-back free throws to halt the run. The Jills finished the game a perfect 6-for-6 on the night from the charity stripe. With 3:49 left in the quarter Wynn made a layup, pulled down a defensive board and knocked down a three pointer in transition to help shrink the deficit. Wagner's made three with :17 left looked to keep the Stevens Point lead at 20 going into halftime, but the Pointers were able to make a buzzer beater to end the half up 46-23.

Wagner started the second half with two free throws, but another large run for the Pointers increased the margin to 56-31. Humphrey knocked down a jumper in the paint to slow the run before Wagner hit another jumper. Less than two minutes later Wagner stole the ball on the defensive end and hit the three pointer. Freshman Leigha Sluder, making her collegiate debut, scored the first two points of her career with 2:53 remaining in the quarter. The two teams traded a pair of free throws each to end the half at 72-36.

Alex Espinosa scored her first points of the season to open the scoring for the Jills in the fourth. After a Wagner layup with 8:39 to go the Pointers, again, used a run to grow the lead before Lopez's layup at the 4:24 mark. Wynn's three pointer and another Lopez layup rounded out the scoring for the LumberJills. 

For the game, Wagner led all scorers with 20 points. Lopez added 7 points and 5 boards for the Jills. 

The LumberJills (0-1, 0-0 UMAC) will play on the road again on Saturday, as the team travels to Finlandia University. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 PM (EST) in Houghton, Michigan. 

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