ASHLAND, Wis. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team opened the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) season with a 55-51 win over Northland College on Friday night. 

The Knights trailed 13-12 after the first quarter, but pulled ahead on the way to a 31-28 lead at the half.

MLC took control in the third quarter, outscoring the LumberJills 14-9 to push the lead to 45-37 heading into the final period, but Northland would not go away quietly. 

The Jills came back to cut the deficit to two points in the final minute, but an offensive foul gave the Knights the ball back, and MLC was able to knock down two free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

The game featured six ties and 13 lead changes, but the Knights were in control much of the day, leading for nearly 28 of the 40 minutes of game action. 

Neither team was efficient from the field, but the Knights' depth came up big as they outscored Northland 22-11 in points of the bench. Lauren Paulsen led the Knights' reserves with nine points.

Erika Gosch led MLC with 13 points. Anna Treder recorded a team-best nine rebounds, while Jordyn Heckendorf finished with six steals.

MLC improved to 2-6 overall and 1-0 in UMAC play with the win. Northland fell to 1-5 on the season and 0-1 in league play in defeat.

The Knights will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, December 11) when they travel to UW-Superior for a game scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.