Concordia University Chicago's Jaela DeJean hit in a jumper with 2.8 seconds left for the winning points to deal the Lakeland College women's basketball team a tough 75-73 loss Thursday evening in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at the Woltzen Gymnasium.
DeJean stung the Muskies for the second time this season as the Cougars swept the season series between the two teams. The Concordia freshman guard scored 32 points in her team's 85-66 win over Lakeland 19 days ago, and this time tallied 22 points and threw the dagger by banking in a 12-footer in the final seconds.
The Muskies (2-6 overall, 2-4 NACC) shot 47.4% and were a perfect 13 of 13 from the free throw line. Lakeland was ultimately done in by 27 turnovers, though, as well as a six-minute span late in the game when it scored just five points.
The Muskies rallied from an eight-point second half deficit to take a 66-62 lead after
Rachel Stankevich (
Fr.-Goodman, Wis.) scored in the lane with 7:51 to play. Lakeland had chances to stretch the lead out even more but had four missed shots and four turnovers over its next eight possessions.
The teams swapped the lead back and forth late, with the Muskies taking their final lead on a short jumper by Stankevich making it 71-69 with 2:50 left. Concordia (5-4 overall, 4-3 NACC) tied it with 1:10 to play and took the lead on two free throws by DeJean with 37 seconds left before
Bailey Grayvold (
So.-Norway, Mich.) hit a pull-up jumper to tie it at 73-73 with 33 seconds left.
The teams were close all night with seven ties, eight lead changes and neither team leading by more than eight. Lakeland started the game quickly, bolting to a 8-0 lead and leading most of the half before the Cougars came on late for a 42-36 halftime lead.
Grayvold scored 15 points to lead the Muskies, while Stankevich totaled 14,
Kayla Clark (
So.-West Bend, Wis.) scored 13 and
C.J. Usadel (
Fr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) added 12. Stankevich also added nine rebounds while Grayvold had six assists and three steals.
Lakeland shot 27 of 57 for the game and held Concordia to 38.8% shooting (26 of 67). The Cougars finished with 19 offensive rebounds, though, and also took advantage of Muskie mistakes for a 24-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
Lakeland is on the road for its next game Saturday when it travels to face Milwaukee School of Engineering at 2 p.m. in Milwaukee in another conference game.
