HANCOCK, Mich. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start in a 66-59 loss at Finlandia on Friday.

The Knights fell behind 23-8 to start the game, but fought back to trail by only three points (36-33) at the half.

The Lions built the lead back up into double figures at 56-45 early in the fourth quarter, but the Knights once again responded with a run to cut the deficit to 58-54 following a Jade St. Germaine lay-up with 2:34 to play in the game.

That would be as close as MLC would get, however, as the Lions' Kelsie Richards made a three-pointer with 1:40 to play that pushed the lead back up to seven points to secure the Finlandia win.

The Knights outrebounded the Lions 50-41 and outscored them by two points in the pain, but were unable to overcome 10 three-point field goals by Finlandia on the night. MLC shot just 2-22 from beyond the arc, with Mariah Schoof making both of those field goals.

St. Germaine led the Knights with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Schoof and Grace Schultz joined her in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

MLC fell to 8-14 on the season in defeat, while the win pushed Finlandia's record to 5-14.

The Knights will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, February 11) when they travel to Northland for a game scheduled to start at 3 p.m.