CRESTVIEW HILLS,  Ky. -- Mount Union's nationally ranked women's basketball team defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater, 69-55, to win an NCAA Tournament first-round game at Thomas More's Connor Center on Friday.

The Purple Raiders (26-3), who are ranked 14th by ESPN/USA Today and 16th by D3Hoops.com, pulled away with a late 10-point run. They will play their second-round contest on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Friday's No. 1-ranked Thomas More (Ky.)/Piedmont (Ga.) winner.

Rosa LaMattina (Westlake/Westlake) finished with 17 points and Kori Wiedt (North Olmsted/North Olmsted) contributed 13 points.

With 12:25 left in the game, Wiedt buried a 3-pointer, putting Mount Union in the lead for good. Amanda Rose (Uniontown/Green) followed with a layup and LaMattina buried a trey of her own, completing an 8-0 run to widen the Raider lead to 44-37.

After that, the Warhawks (21-7) pulled within four points or less on five separate occasions, but never found themselves any closer.

Leading 55-51, Mount Union took command with a 10-0 stretch, getting contributions from four different scorers.

The Raiders outrebounded Whitewater, 37-33, which is further highlighted by a sizeable 24-10 second-half advantage. The game included eight ties and eight lead changes.

Lauren Forquer (North Canton/Green) led Mount Union on the glass with seven boards. Wiedt and Taylor Hartung (Canton/Massillon Perry) added three steals apiece.

Whitewater, which was rated 24th by D3Hoops, twice led by six points. It was led by Dana Thompson, who had 17 points and eight rebounds. Megan Theune added 10 points for the Warhawks.