CUW (7-5) hung with Amherst (9-0), the nation's top-ranked team, in the first half but the Lord Jeffs showed why they are the NCAA Division III defending national champions over the final 20 minutes of the game.

AC used its suffocating defense to force 12 turnovers and hold CUW to just 3-of-24 shooting in the second half. The Lord Jeffs turned an 11-point halftime lead into a 20-plus point advantage less than five minutes into the second period.

Senior Kendall Kerns (Stoughton, Wis.) led the Falcons with 16 points, including an 8-of-12 performance at the free throw line. She also grabbed a team-high-tying six rebounds. Junior Brittany Zietlow (Oak Creek, Wis.) and sophomore Katie Luethe (Oshkosh, Wis.) added eight and seven points, respectively.

Caroline Stedman paced all scorers with 17 points, to go along with a game-high four steals. Lem Atanga-McCormick added 10 points and nine rebounds for Amherst.

The Lord Jeffs finished with a 25-4 advantage in bench scoring, a 32-4 difference in points off turnovers, and a 28-10 lead in points in the paint.

Head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones' team led for the first 4:37 of the game behind four points from Luethe. Both teams traded field goals over the next few minutes before Amherst took the lead for good, 14-12, on a McCormick layup with 10:25 remaining in the first half.

The Lord Jeffs led by double-digits on several occasions in the first 20 minutes before taking a 31-20 lead at the intermission.

Amherst took control in the second period as it expanded its lead to as many as 32 points. A bright spot for CUW in the second half and off the bench was senior Brittany Toles (South Beloit, Ill.) who finished the contest with four points and a team-high-tying six rebounds in just 12 minutes of action.

The Falcons will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, Jan. 7 when they travel to Dominican University for a 2 p.m. Northern Athletics Conference matchup. The game is the first part of a doubleheader with the men's program.