The Lakeland University women's basketball team got off to red-hot starts in both halves and is in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament championship game after a 79-63 win over Alverno College in the tourney semifinals Thursday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The second-seeded Muskies will play in the title game for the first time since 2010 when they travel to face No. 1 seed Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Mequon. Lakeland will be aiming for its seventh NCAA Division III Tournament bid in school history and its first since 2010, when it won its only previous NACC championship.

The Muskies (19-7 overall) eliminated sixth-seeded Alverno in front of a boisterous crowd for both teams, doing so with balanced scoring and a solid offensive effort as well as a strong second half defensively. Led by Kayla Clark (Sr.-West Bend, Wis.) tying a career high with 18 points, four Lakeland players scored at least 14 points, part of a team effort shooting 47.5% for the game (28 of 59).

A four-point game at halftime quickly turned for good at the start of the second half. That's when the Muskies came out of the locker room with a 15-0 run, taking a 54-35 lead with 5:39 left in the third quarter after a three-point play by Bailey Grayvold (Sr.-Norway, Mich.).

As was the case in all three of its losses to Lakeland this season, Alverno (13-14 overall) refused to go quietly, cutting the deficit down to 10 late in the third quarter and once again midway through the fourth quarter, after the Muskies had built the margin back up to 18 following back-to-back three-pointers by Clark making it 66-48 with 8:08 left. The Inferno got as close as 68-58 with 4:32 left, but never got closer and finished with just five more points the rest of the way.

Lakealnd trailed only briefly in the early minutes of the game, buoyed by a smoking start from outside. The Muskies hit 6 of 8 three-point tries in taking a 26-19 lead after a frantic first period, though Alverno matched the hosts most of the opening half and trailed just 39-35 at halftime.

The Inferno shot just 25.0% (9 of 36) in the second half, though, including missing their first seven shots after halftime. Alverno also couldn't warm up from three-point range in either half, shooting 5 of 21 from deep for the game (23.8%).

Clark finished with four three-pointers, made 6 of 6 free throws and also added eight assists while playing 39 minutes. Grayvold and Rachel Stankevich (Jr.-Goodman, Wis.) also scored 15 points each and Stankevich added a game-high 13 rebounds, while Miranda Jacobson (So.-Felch, Mich.) also added 14 points. The Muskies also as a team finished 9 of 19 from three-point range (47.4%) and made 14 of 19 from the free throw line (73.7%).

Tori Lauren (Fr.-Gwinn, Mich.) also chipped in seven points and seven rebounds off the bench and Maddy Doll (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) finished with four points and nine rebounds. Both also recorded three blocked shots each, part of the team's total of nine blocks.

Gabby Hood scored 13 points and added nine rebounds and eight assists to lead the Inferno, who shot 32.4% (24 of 74). Alverno grabbed 15 offensive rebounds but could only turn them into nine points, and also was not able to take full advantage of 14 Lakeland turnovers, scoring just nine points off those mistakes.