Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Jayden Koehler (42) dribbles by a Crown defender in Wednesday night’s UMAC game at MLC.

By Jeff Meder

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College women’s basketball team won its second contest in a row with a 71-57 win over Crown College on Wednesday in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action.

“I’m proud of our young team sticking together,” MLC head coach Dan Gawrisch said. “We got some big rebounds down the stretch, and we have the basketball maturity to know what to do.”

The Knights utilized a full-court press from start to finish and it paid off well for them, creating a total of 27 turnovers which led to 32 points. MLC scored 22 second-chance baskets, got 18 points off the fast break and got 27 points from the bench.

Crown outscored MLC 40-31 in the second half, but MLC outscored the Storm 40-17 in the first half.

Crown made a strong run at the Knights during a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Damonyka Roberts started it with a basket. She was fouled and she hit the free throw. Ellie Clark scored and Stevey De La Ossa hit a 3-pointer to cut Crown’s deficit to 58-47. Later, Roberts hit two free throws, De La Ossa made a layup and Patricia Gibson scored to have Crown down 66-55.

Ally Platzer hit two key free throws and Emily Witkowski passed the ball to Kortney Behnke, who scored on a fast-break layup to seal the victory for MLC.

Roberts kept Crown in the game early in the third quarter when she scored 6 straight points. Roberts scored a total of 12 points in that quarter alone.

Witkowski weaved her way through the Crown defense, using a behind-the-back dribble to score a layup. Behnke scored on the next possessions with a fast-break layup, making it 46-23 MLC. Platzer hit a 3-pointer while Shauna Thompson answered for Crown with her own 3-pointer. It was 53-37 after three quarters.

The contest started out tight. Rose Crowns and Patricia Gibson scored to give Crown a 4-0 lead. Witkowski scored, was fouled and she made the free throw. She scored again to regain MLC’s lead. De La Ossa scored to put the Storm back in front. Gosch hit consecutive 3s to regain the Knights lead that it would not relinquish for the rest of the game. MLC led 19-12 after the first period.

Platzer hit a 3 and Cassandra Rose dropped in 4 points early in the second quarter. Rose scored two baskets and she added a free throw. Witkowski added a basket and the front end of a free throw. Behnke canned a 3-pointer and Witkowski went the length of the court and scored, which made it 40-17 MLC at halftime.

Witkowski led the Knights with 23 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Rose added 13 points and nine rebounds. Gosch and Platzer finished with 8 points apiece.

Roberts led the Storm with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. De La Ossa scored 14 points and five rebounds.

MLC (3-17, 3-9) will travel to Northwestern College on Saturday.