The Lakeland University women's basketball team took control in the second half and took the first step of its postseason journey with a 77-62 win over Concordia University Chicago in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The fourth-seeded Muskies dominated play inside, got timely three-point shooting and also handled the No. 5 seed Cougars' frenetic pressure defense well to move on to the tournament semifinals. Lakeland will now meet top seed Wisconsin Lutheran College on the road Saturday at 3:30 p.m., with WLC serving as host for the tourney semifinals and final this weekend.

The Muskies (18-8 overall) finished with a huge 50-32 rebounding advantage and also were nearly perfect at the free throw line, making 22 of 24 foul shots (91.7%). And while the hosts shot just 37.5% for the game (24 of 64), they parlayed a hot start into an early advantage and then hit five three-pointers in the second half to slowly pull away.

Lakeland led 35-34 after a first half in which it made nine of its first 11 shots on the way to an early 13-point lead, only to see the frantic Cougars (17-9 overall) battle back late in the half. Concordia eventually took its first lead of the game seven seconds into the second half, but the Muskies start to take over from there.

Abby Nylund (Fr.-Crystal Falls, Mich.) hit a pair of three-pointers to push the lead to eight, and Lakeland built the lead to 10 when Janai' Farr (Fr.-Racine, Wis.) hit a three-pointer to make it 54-44 with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

The lead eventually ballooned to 15 early in the fourth quarter on layup by Rachel Stankevich (Sr.-Goodman, Wis.). And while Concordia had rallied from double-digits down in the first half just as it had in two previous meetings this season against Lakeland, this time the Cougars did not have a final run left.

A big reason was CUC shooting just 35.5% in the second half (11 of 31) and just 32.3% for the game. Also, the Muskies committed just four turnovers in the second half and 13 for the game, well below the Cougars' regular average of 20.6 turnovers forced per game that led the NACC.

Lakeland salted the game away by making 15 of 17 free throws in the second half, including 9 of 11 in the fourth quarter. Concordia only got as close as nine points with more than five minutes left and the Muskies closed it out for their 10th win in 11 games.

Miranda Jacobson (Jr.-Felch, Mich.) finished with 18 points and seven rebounds while Stankevich added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. She was one of three players with at least nine rebounds, as Megan Will (Fr.-Lake Mills, Wis.) scored nine points and grabbed 12 boards and Maddy Doll (Sr.-Florence, Wis.) was scoreless but finished with nine rebounds.

Nylund also scored 12 points, all on three-pointers, and Rachel Hasko (So.-Racine, Wis.) added a career-high nine points off the bench. Doll and Will both had three blocks each as the Muskies finished with eight blocks as a team.

Courtney Lofink scored 20 points and added seven assists and helped keep the Cougars in it with four of the team's 11 three-pointers. Taylor Jacobsen also added 13 points but was just 5 of 16 from the field, and Concordia shot 21 of 65 as a team overall and 11-for-11 from long distance (33.3%).

2018 NACC WBB Tournament bracket