MORRIS, Minn. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team showed improvement from earlier in the week in a 73-63 non-conference defeat at Minnesota Morris on Thursday.

The two teams played just 48 hours earlier, with UMM coming away with an 88-49 win, and the Cougars started strong again on Thursday as they took a commanding 28-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

MLC had different ideas in the second quarter, however, as it out-scored UMM 22-9 in the period to cut the deficit to two (37-35) going into the half. After the Cougars shot 12-19 in the first quarter, MLC held them to just 2-16 from the field in the second quarter to aid the comeback.

UMM got back on track in the third quarter, out-scoring MLC 23-17, but the Knights hung in throughout the final period until the Cougars held them off down the stretch to secure the win.

Turnovers were an issue throughout the night for the Knights. The Cougars turned 23 MLC miscues into 22 points on the other end, and also out-scored the Knights 15-3 from the free throw line for the game.

The Knights attempted to make up the difference from beyond the arc, where they shot 8-18 for the game, and also out-rebounded UMM 50-35.

Erika Gosch led MLC with 14 points and made four of her eight attempts from downtown. Emily Witkowski added 12 points, while Jordyn Heckendorf finished with 10 points. Emma Nelson and Anna Treder recorded 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.

MLC fell to 1-8 in defeat, while UMM improved to 4-2 with the win.

The Knights will return to Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) action on Saturday, February 20, when they host St. Scholastica in a game scheduled to start at 3 p.m.