ASHLAND, Wis . - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team was unable to overcome a big halftime deficit in a 76-61 loss at Northland College on Saturday.

Sophomore wing Emily Witkowski made seven of 10 shots for a game-high 17 points in the first half, but the Knights still found themselves trailing 43-24 at the break thanks to 10-34 shooting overall.

MLC showed signs of life in the third quarter, outscoring the LumberJills 21-13 to cut the deficit to 11 points, and further cut into the Northland lead in the fourth period. First-year forward Samantha Paul's jump shot with 7:04 to play in the fourth quarter cut the deficit to seven points (60-53), but that would be as close as MLC would get the rest of the way as the Jills hung on for the win.

After struggling from the field in the first half, the Knights shot 52.4 percent in the second half. However, 13 turnovers in the final two quarters proved costly as they attempted to complete the comeback.

Witkowski finished with a career-high 26 points on 10-16 shooting from the field. Her previous career-high was 21 points, set earlier this season (December 8) against Northland.

Faith Otte added nine points and eight assists. Cassandra Rose finished with eight points to go with seven rebounds. 

MLC fell to 1-16 on the season and 1-8 in UMAC play in defeat. Northland improved to 5-10 overall and 2-7 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Wednesday, January 23, when they host Bethany Lutheran in a game scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.