St. Bonicafius, Minn. — Similar to the chilly winter weather, Crown struggled to heat up shooting the ball facing two UMAC opponents, Northwestern and North Central, over the weekend. 

First, Crown faced the top team in the UMAC Northwestern on Friday and struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, not being able to get to the free throw line once and not finding the bottom of the net on a three-point attempt. They came out better in the second half, shooting 5/10 from three and 51% overall in the second half, but that wasn't enough to overtake the top Northwestern team, falling 57-88. 

Unfortunately, the shooting woes continued in the second game when Crown faced North Central. They struggled shooting from the field in the first half, and despite shooting 57% from the field in the second half, they couldn't come back to beat North Central (who shot an incredible 57% from three points range in the game), losing 76-95. 

Junior Austin VanDerHeyden led the weekend with 18 points against Northwestern and 22 against the North Central team. He also combined for 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in those games. Sophomore Josh Volness also had a strong weekend, with 23 points in the two games, and freshman Timothy Wendel sustained his strong play with 26 points in the two matches.

Crown now goes on the road to continue UMAC play against the University of Wisconsin-Superior and the College of St. Scholastica next weekend.