St. Bonifacius, MN - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team last played Crown in February of last season, where the Knights came up just short on the road to the Polars 75-74. The Knights had appeared as if they'd come away with the win following a
Jordyn Heckendorf isolation layup with nine seconds remaining. However, Crown benefited from a late whistle and Madi Hecox hit a pair of free throws to beat MLC.
On Friday, the Knights flipped the script down the stretch and this time around came out on top thanks to a 14-point overtime period and defeated Crown
80-71.
MLC found themselves trailing at intermission down 30-23, but popped off a 10-0 run to get back into the game to start the second half. The run was led by a
Lydia Feidt layup and and a
Lauren Paulsen 3-pointer. As a team, the Knights shot 9-18 in the quarter and scored 22 points to take a 45-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter. From here, the game saw several lead changes as each team had a response after a momentum changing play. The Polars ended up converting on another pair of crucial free throws and went up 66-64 with 29 seconds left. However, Feidt knocked down a jumper to force their first overtime contest of the season.
The Knights would seal the deal with a 13-2 run in overtime and connected on eight free throws to guide them to victory.
Feidt and Paulsen both earned career highs to lead the Knights, with Feidt scoring 25 points and Paulsen picking up 23 points. Feidt shot well all night long going 10-14 from the field and was active on the defensive end securing five steals and seven rebounds. Paulsen had another solid showing following her 22-point performance against Bethany and almost had a double-double (nine rebounds).
MLC had an edge in points off turnovers (27-13) and that played a pivotal role in the Knights' UMAC win.
Crown dropped their sixth-straight game with their loss to MLC, while the Knights (4-10, 1-3) grabbed their first conference game of the season. MLC looks to keep the momentum going with a road game at Minnesota Morris on Saturday, January 13 at 3 p.m.
