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MADISON, Wis. - The Edgewood College women's basketball team picked the most opportune moment to pull out their best all-around performance of the season. The Eagles jumped to the lead and never looked back in a 68-53 rout of Marian University on Tuesday night. With the win the Eagles vault past the Sabres and into the fourth and final playoff position in the Northern Athletics Conference North Division.

Edgewood College (9-12, 8-7 NAC) went inside early and often on the smaller Sabres. Sophomore Dareon Henderson scored seven points in a 14-2 Eagle run to open the game. Henderson would go on to shoot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 at the free throw line to finish with a career-high 13 points. Her team-high nine rebounds also set a new career best.

The Eagles and Sabres traded buckets most of the rest of the first half until Marian University (12-10, 8-8 NAC) cut the lead to 26-22 on a free throw by Kayla Rowley with two minutes to go before halftime. However, the Eagles put a stamp on the first half with a 7-0 run, capped by a three-point basket from freshman Mariah Hill with 19 seconds to go.

The Sabres got as close as eight points early in the second half, but Henderson and junior Alison Tobin alternated baskets on a 10-2 run to push the Eagles lead back to 44-28 by the first media timeout. The Sabres would get the margin back to single digits at 56-47 with five minutes to go, but baskets by junior Brittany Bylsma and senior Melanie Walker bookended a pair of Allison Novitske free throws and put the game out of reach. The Eagles shot 54.2 percent in the second half, including 65 percent from inside the three-point line.

Edgewood College shot a season-high 46.3 percent for the game and made 16 of 20 free throw attempts. Tobin was the leading scorer with 16 points, followed by Henderson's 13-point night. Henderson also posted team-highs with three blocked shots and three steals. Hill added nine points, while Bylsma chipped in eight. The Eagles scored 17 of their 25 field goals in the paint.

The Eagles did an outstanding job guarding the three-point line against Marian, who entered the game third in the nation with 8.7 three-point baskets per contest. Edgewood College limited the Sabres to just 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from behind the arc, and held Sarah Albert, the nation's most accurate three-point shooter, to just 1-for-5 from behind the line. Albert finished as the team's leading scorer with 12 points, while Alexis Becker tallied nine. The Sabres shot just 35.7 percent for the game.

The Eagles now control their own postseason destiny with three games remaining on the conference schedule. The Eagles play their final regular season road game on Thursday at Alverno College, before finishing at home against Wisconsin Lutheran on Saturday and Lakeland College next Wednesday.