The Lakeland University women's basketball team raced out to a big lead early and withstood numerous challenges by Wisconsin Lutheran College in the second half for a 64-52 win Wednesday night at a charged up Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies had a successful Senior Night with all three seniors contributing and improved to 17-7 overall and 15-4 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Lakeland also defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College for the third straight year and moved a game ahead of the Warriors (14-9 overall, 14-5 NACC) in the conference race.

The Muskies did not get much clarity in their NACC Tournament seeding fate yet, however, which sets up a final day of conference play Saturday with a myriad of possibilities. Lakeland will face Benedictine (Ill.) University on Saturday with the winner clinching the second seed and a quarterfinal bye in the conference tourney, but the loser could finish in a two- or three-way tie for third in the standings and could drop as low as the five seed.

The Muskies did all they could to improve their positioning on Wednesday, though, scoring the game's first 10 points and pulling out to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter before WLC battled back.

Senior Brooke Wilder-Corrigan (Lake Linden, Mich.) made her first career start and hit a three-pointer from the left corner for Lakeland's first points of the game, and it sparked a 10-0 run to start. Three other players hit three-pointers in the first half as the Muskies hit six triples in the first 20 minutes in all on the way to a 31-11 lead with 4:55 left in the second quarter.

The six-time defending NACC Tournament champions Warriors were every bit the tough out expected, though, and slowly worked back into the game. WLC cut Lakeland's lead to 31-18 by halftime, and got within four when Caitlin Knueppel hit a three-pointer with 3:12 left left in the third quarter made it 36-32.

The Muskies had an answer every time the Warriors got close, though. Maddy Doll (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) scored five straight points including a layup plus a three-point play, part of her career-high 15 points, giving Lakeland a 43-32 lead still in the third.

Wisconsin Lutheran crawled back within three points again when Coreana Carson hit a three-pointer to make it 53-50 with 3:33 left in the game, but the seized control from there. Rachel Stankevich (Jr.-Goodman, Wis.) scored six straight points, including a dagger three-pointer to make it 59-50 with 1:55 left, and the Muskies held the Warriors to two points in the final 3 1/2 minutes.

Stankevich and Kayla Clark (Sr.-West Bend, Wis.) both scored 14 points, with Stankevich also added six rebounds and Clark posting a game-high six assists. Clark's assist total brought her to 323 career assists, four short of tying the school record of 327 assists set by Helle Stokke from 1981-85.

Miranda Jacobson (So.-Felch, Mich.) also added nine points and five rebounds off the bench, while leading scorer Bailey Grayvold (Sr.-Norway, Mich.) was held to six points but added six rebounds and four assists.

The Muskies shot 46.8% from the field (22 of 47), including 9 of 19 from three-point range. Lakeland also made 11 of 16 from the foul line (68.8%) and forced 17 WLC turnovers.

Knueppel scored 20 points and hit six three-pointers to lead the Warriors, who shot 31.1% (19 of 61) but stayed close with a 38-31 rebounding advantage including 19 offensive boards.

The Muskies' game at Benedictine on Saturday will be played in Lisle, Ill., and begins at 2 p.m. The NACC Tournament will open Tuesday with quarterfinal games at the home site of higher seeded teams, with semifinal play taking place next Thursday.