LISLE, Ill. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team stormed past Benedictine (Ill.) University in the second half and stormed into the postseason, overcoming an 11-point deficit to defeat the Eagles 62-54 Saturday afternoon at the Rice Center.

Rather than leaving its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament fate up to other league results or even a coin flip, the Muskies seized the second seed in the six-team tourney and clinched a bye into the semifinals. Lakeland will open on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium, hosting the winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal between third-seeded Benedictine and No. 6 Alverno College.

The Muskies (18-7 overall, 16-4 NACC) will go into the postseason flying high, having won their final five games, seven of their last eight and 14 of their previous 16. Lakeland will host an NACC tourney game for the first time since 2012 on Thursday.

The Muskies entered Saturday knowing they could be anywhere from the second to fifth seed in the NACC tourney depending on results from the final day of the regular season. There was even a possibility that a tie for third between Lakeland and Wisconsin Lutheran College would've resulted in a coin flip for the third seed.

Playing on its senior day, Benedictine (19-6 overall, 15-5 NACC) got off to a hot start that included five three-pointers in the first quarter. The Eagles led 31-20 with less than three minutes left before halftime when the Muskies began chipping away, scoring the final six points of the first half to trail just 31-26 at the half.

Lakeland trailed by seven in the opening minutes of the second half when it made another run, scoring eight straight points to take a 34-33 lead, and the Muskies took the lead for good when Kayla Clark (Sr.-West Bend, Wis.) hit a three-pointer to beat the third quarter buzzer and make it 44-42. It was part of a big day for the senior point guard, as she also finished with four assists and broke the Lakeland all-time school record in that category, with her 328 career assists surpassing the 32-year old school record of 327 previously held by Helle Stokke (1981-85).

Benedictine got as close as two points just once in the fourth quarter, and Amanda Majewski (Fr.-Peshtigo, Wis.) answered that with a three-pointer to make it 51-46 with 5:38 left. The Eagles cut their deficit back down to three briefly, but Bailey Grayvold (Sr.-Norway, Mich.) hit another three-pointer and the Muskies' lead never slipped below four points the rest of the way.

The Muskies shot 35.8% (19 of 53) but shot twice as many free throws as the Eagles, making 19 of 24 from the stripe (79.2%) to Benedictine's 8 of 12 (66.7%). Grayvold led a balanced offensive attack with 13 points, while Miranda Jacobson (So.-Felch, Mich.) scored 12 and Maddy Doll (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) and Rachel Stankevich (Jr.-Goodman, Wis.) both added 10 points each. Doll and Stankevich also both just missed double-doubles with nine and eight rebounds, respectively.

Benedictine started hot from the field but couldn't sustain its pace, shooting just 27.9% over the final three quarters (12 of 43) over the final three quarters after hitting 8 of 15 in the first quarter. D'Asia Williams scored 17 points while Alena Moro added 10 points and 12 rebounds.