The Seahawks women's basketball team held off Ave Maria on the road Thursday evening, winning 71-70.

Ave Maria held an early 8-7 advantage when an Emily May jumper started an 11-2 run capped off by a Chanel Brooks put back to lead 18-10 with 9:14 left in the half. The Seahawks built the margin to 27-15 at the 5:44 mark and did not allow their opponents to get any closer than nine down the stretch. Northwood went on to take their largest lead of 38-24 and went into the break ahead 38-25.

The Gyrenes got to within 44-37 when a pair of threes by May and Hannah Del Negro pushed the lead back out to 50-37 with 13:32 left in regulation. However, Ave Maria answered back with a 9-0 run cutting the deficit to 50-46 with 10:15 showing. A brief 6-2 spurt by Northwood pushed the advantage to 56-48, but the Gyrenes fought back retaking a 57-56 lead with 7:30 left in regulation.

With the scored tied at 58-58 a Del Negro three and May jumper gave Northwood a 63-58 lead, but Ave Maria used a 6-0 answer regaining a 64-63 advantage with 3:23 to go. Again tied at 67-67, Kiera Duncanson scored her first points of the game giving the Seahawks a 69-67 lead. The Gyrenes then split their free throws when Del Negro converted two clutch free throws lifting Northwood to the 71-70 win.

Del Negro led the way on the evening with 21 points on 6-13 shooting from the field. Blanson also had double digits with 19 points, and Stephanie Granada had 11. Gildea led the way with six assists.

Head Coach Courtney McDaniel said, "I am proud of the way the team fought tonight. Tonight we played to win and we found a way to pull out the win. The team did a great job of fighting till the end."

With the win, the Seahawks improve to 5-21, and 4-13 in Sun Conference play. Northwood returns home for senior day on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm against Thomas. The Seahawks will recognize Lakeisha Blason, T'aundra Wrighter and Dana Gildea prior to the contest.