NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team will play in the opening round game of the UMAC Women's Basketball Postseason Tournament tonight at Minnesota Morris. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.

This marks the fourth time in the last six years in which the Knights and Cougars have faced off in the conference tournament. UMM won the meetings between the teams in 2014 (66-56) and 2011 (73-54), while MLC was able to defeat the Cougars 69-63 in the championship game of the tournament back in 2012.

The two teams split a pair of games this season, with both teams protecting home court. UMM finished the season 9-7 in conference play, good for fourth in the final standings, while MLC finished the conference season 7-9 in fifth place. The winner of this game will play at UMAC regular season champion UW-Superior on Wednesday, February 24.

MLC won a defensive battle 56-50 in New Ulm on January 16, as neither team shot above 32 percent from the field. Leah Nass led MLC with 14 points and 11 rebounds in that contest, while UMM's Kendra Raths scored ten points and grabbed ten rebounds to lead the Cougars.

UMM evened the series last weekend with a 76-67 win at home. The Knights went cold for a long stretch in the first half, allowing the Cougars to build a double-digit lead MLC was unable to recover from. Nass once again led the Knights with 15 points, while UMM was led by 17 points from Elli Stevenson.

MLC enters this game following an overtime win at Crown. The Knights built a 20-point lead midway through the third quarter, but fell into an offensive funk the rest of the way in regulation until righting the ship with 18 points in overtime. Grace Schultz led the Knights with 18 points in that game.

The Cougars enter this game on a hot streak, having won four straight games. In their last game before the tournament, UMM played perhaps its best game of the season, defeating Bethany Lutheran 82-53 on Saturday, February 20, thanks to 17-33 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. 

You can follow the game on video and live stats if you click here.

You can also visit the UMAC Women's Basketball Championships page, with schedules and links for all the tournament games this week, if you click here.