Miranda Jacobson (Sr.-Felch, Mich.) made two free throws in the final minute for the go-ahead points and the Lakeland University women's basketball team rallied in the final minutes to defeat the University of Wisconsin-River Falls 55-53 Saturday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies trailed by six with less than three minutes to play but outscored the Falcons 10-2 the rest of the way for the non-conference win at home. Lakeland defeated a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team for the first time since 2011 and won its opener for the second straight year.

The teams swapped the lead three times in the last 38 seconds, but Jacobson swished both attempts to make it 54-53 with 22 seconds left. She also split two shots with 4.5 seconds left to put the Muskies ahead by two, but they then had to sweat it out when Jenna Zeman was fouled on a shot with 1.8 seconds remaining.

Zeman back-rimmed the first free throw, though, and then stepped over the line early while trying to miss the second shot intentionally. Lakeland then just needed to inbound in its frontcourt to secure the win and did so to finish the game.

The Muskies were down 51-45 after Lori Wardynski hit a three-pointer for UWRF with 3:24 to play. Abby Nylund (So.-Crystal Falls, Mich.) hit a three-pointer with 2:26 left to halve the deficit, though, and Jacobson's layup with 1:18 to play made it a one-point game.

Lakeland got another stop on defense and then went ahead when Megan Will (So.-Lake Mills, Wis.) was fouled and made two from the line to put Lakeland ahead 52-51 with 38 seconds left. The Falcons answered quickly as Taylor Paulsrud flashed into the paint and hit a jumper with 31 seconds to play, but Jacobson was fouled on the perimeter by Paulsrud nine seconds later and made both shots.

The Muskies earned the win despite playing from behind much of the night, never letting the Falcons get too far in front. The game saw 13 lead changes and seven ties, and the largest lead for either team was seven for UW-River Falls late in the third quarter.

Lakeland shot just 31.3% from the field (20 of 64) and was outrebounded 45-40. The Muskies committed just 10 turnovers to UWRF's 18, though, and also made 10 of 15 from the foul line (66.7%) to the Falcons' 5-for-11 showing.

UW-River Falls held a 28-23 lead at halftime after the Muskies shot just 22.9% in the first 20 minutes.

Jacobson scored 18 points and added eight rebounds and Will added 12 points-including 10 in the second half-plus eight boards and three blocked shots. Nylund and freshman Kacey Gardner (Evergreen Park, Ill.) also had four assists each.

Wardynski scored 12 to lead UWRF, which shot 37.5% (21 of 56). Brianna Lehy added six points plus 13 rebounds off the bench for the Falcons.

The win was the first against a WIAC team for Lakeland since a 75-67 win over UW-Stout on Nov. 19, 2011 in the consolation game of the Lakeland Tip-Off Tournament.

The Muskies are in action again when they travel to face Lawrence University in Appleton Thursday night at 7 p.m.