Box Score Rochester, MN – There was a single statistic that leaped out.

Onondaga Community College was outrebounded by 25 on Thursday night in the first round of the NJCAA Division III women's basketball tournament at UCR Regional Sports Center.

It was Northland (Minn.) that did the outrebounding. It was also the Pioneers who did the winning, though just barely, 58-57. The outcome would have been different had Onondaga's Allie Taylor's fadeway jumper from 12 feet not rimmed off at the final buzzer.

But it did, and so did the Lazers' hope of advancing to the ­semifinals.

"Losing in the first round is tough," Onondaga coach Mike Wheeler said. "But Northland was very good and we knew they would be. That's the best defensive team we've gone up against all year."

And yes, probably the best rebounding one as well.

Still, the Lazers had their chances, and this despite trailing by 11 at halftime. They seemed on the edge of taking over with a furious second-half comeback. But in the end, too many shots rimmed out at crunch time. And Taylor wasn't nearly the only one to just miss in the final two minutes.

Still, it was all those lost rebounds that will haunt them. The disparity was in contrast to all the things that Onondaga did well, especially after halftime.

"To get outrebounded by that much, and still lose by just one, that says something," Wheeler said. "It says we really battled."

Wheeler just wished that the battling had stretched for an entire 40 minutes. Those first 20 minutes, well, they got away.

"We just weren't making shots and we weren't rebounding the ball," said Taylor, who finished with a team-high 20 points on 9-for-16 shooting. "But coach gave us a good halftime speech, and we came out a lot better after that."

The Lazers had stayed relatively in the game early in the opening half with 3-pointers and by forcing Northland turnovers.  After trailing 18-11, Onondaga went to work by hitting three of its next four 3-point tries, all of them by Lauren Roy.
 
As for turnovers, Onondaga continually darted into passing lanes and forced 10 first-half Northland turnovers. For the game, the Lazers got Northland to cough up the ball a whopping 29 times.

Still, that combination of good stuff wasn't good enough as the Lazers went into intermission trailing 39-28. Northland's efficient shooting was a big reason for that. Getting an equal combination of baskets inside and outside, the Pioneers shot 46 percent in the first half. That was in contrast to the Lazers' 32-percent.

Onondaga's toughest individual matchup was Northland's Sarah Durand. The 6-foot sophomore overpowered Onondaga with her post-up game while also showing an ability to shoot from 12 feet. Durand made half of her 14 shots and had 16 points by halftime.

Though seeded No. 2, compared to Northland's No. 7 seed,  Wheeler knew his team would have its hands full. That was based on Northland's record, 24-1 entering the tournament and having earned it in Region 13, one of the tougher regions in the country.

Onondaga, whose only other double-figure scorer Thursday was Amanda Marcely with 14 points,  will now take a 29-5 record into Friday's losers-bracket. There, it faces No. 6 seed West Georgia Tech at 3 p.m.