MORRIS, Minn. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team lost at Minnesota Morris 76-67 on Friday.

The game was important for UMAC Tournament seeding, with the winner getting an inside track to host the play-in game on Monday night between the fourth and fifth seeds.

The Knights opened strong, taking an early 13-8 lead, but the Cougars took control of the game with a 17-2 run over a stretch of more than six minutes that spanned the end of the first period and the beginning of the second stanza. MLC was held without a field goal for more than five minutes in the first half before Leah Nass made a field goal with 5:54 to play in the second quarter, allowing the Cougars to build a 36-23 halftime lead.

MLC would battle back coming out of the locker room, cutting the deficit to 50-40 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Cougars kept their cushion in double figures to open the fourth quarter, but Grace Schultz brought the Knights within striking distance with back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to 65-59 with 2:55 to play.

That would be as close as MLC would get, however, as UMM was able to build its lead back as high as 11 points down the stretch on the way to the win.

Four MLC players scored in double figures, led by 15 points from Nass on 6-11 shooting. Nass also tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Schultz and Erin Schmeling each finished with 12 points, while Moriah Hackbarth added ten off the bench.

The Knights fell to 11-13 on the season, and 6-9 in the UMAC in defeat. They now must win against Crown College tomorrow (Saturday, February 20), and also need a St. Scholastica loss against Northwestern in order to make the conference tournament as the fifth seed.

UMM improved its record to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in league play with the win.

MLC's game at Crown is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. tomorrow.