No. 25 Northwestern pulled away from Briar Cliff in the fourth quarter to earn its third straight win, 71-60, on Wednesday night in the Bultman Center. 

Northwestern has now won six of its last seven games and improved to 7-6 in conference play, 15-6 overall. Briar Cliff slipped to 5-7 in the conference, 10-11 overall. 

Kassidy De Jong poured in a game-high 20 points, going 9-for-16 from the field, and was one of five Red Raiders who scored in double figures. Darbi Gustafson scored 12 and pulled down nine rebounds and both Anna Kiel (10pts, 12 rebounds) and Renee Maneman (10pts, 12 rebounds) registered double-doubles. Haley Birks chipped in 10. 

How It Happened...

Following the opening basket by the visiting Chargers, Northwestern scored the next eight points on a three-pointer by Paige Danner and baskets by Gustafson, De Jong and a free throw by Kiel to take an 8-2 lead. 

Northwestern led throughout the rest of the half but Briar Cliff stayed within contact, never trailing by more than seven and was within one, 36-35, by halftime.

Briar Cliff went ahead briefly (44-42) following consecutive baskets by Alyssa Carley early in the third but the Red Raiders closed the quarter with a 10-4 run to take back the lead for good, 52-48. De Jong scored six and Maneman netted four during the decisive run while the Raiders defense held BCU to just one field goal over the final five-plus minutes.

The Chargers made it a two-point game after two free throws by Kailey Burke upon the onset of the fourth quarter but a three-point play by Gustafson sparked an 11-0 Northwestern run to put the hosts up 63-50 at the 5:40 mark. 

BCU got as close as eight (66-58) after two more free throws by Burke with 2:29 left, however, Danner knocked down her second three-pointer of the game to seal the Red Raider win.

By the Numbers...

Northwestern shot 51% for the game although struggled from the three-point line, going 2-for-14 (14%); Briar Cliff shot 37% from the floor and 36% (4-for-11) from beyond the arc.

The Red Raiders held the edge on the boards for the seventh straight game, outrebounding Briar Cliff 45-28; Kiel led the way with 12, followed by Gustafson with nine and De Jong with eight

Maneman dished out a career-high 12 assists and has three double-doubles this season (points/assists); this was her fifth game with 10+ assists

De Jong moved past both Jill (Rector) Kress, Jennifer (Zylstra) Taylor and Deb Mouw and into 35th place in career scoring with 890 points

Haley Birks totaled two blocked shots, adding to her GPAC-leading total of 51; Birks is now 15th all-time in career blocks at NWC

Briar Cliff was led by Kailey Burke with 15 points and Erin Grimshaw netted nine