MILWAUKEE – Lakeland University's run at a second straight Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Women's Basketball Tournament title was stonewalled by top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran College, which ended the Muskies' season 68-47 in the tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon.
The fourth-seeded Muskie's bid to repeat as champs and make a second straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament ended on the road against the NACC's regular season champion. Lakeland lost for just the second time in 11 games and saw its season end with an 18-9 record, while Wisconsin Lutheran (23-3 overall) moved to the tourney's final game Sunday.
The Muskies were unable to duplicate their success less than a month earlier against the Warriors, when they handed WLC one of its two NACC losses and snapped a 17-game winning streak. Lakeland played superbly in a 58-49 win on Jan. 30, shooting 57.1% while holding the then 25th-ranked Warriors to 32.8% marksmanship.
The Muskies were in chase mode almost from the start this time, with Lutheran scoring the game's first 12 points and never trailing. Lakeland also shot just 35.7% from the field, making 15 of 42 shots, and committed 19 turnovers.
Wisconsin Lutheran's Jen Dowden also was handful, as the NACC Player of the Year scored 29 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the field and also made 9 of 10 from the foul line. The junior scored all 12 points in the Warriors' game-opening run, scored 16 in the first quarter and 22 in the first half as WLC built a 34-19 halftime lead.
Lakeland went scoreless for the game's first 6 minutes, 7 seconds, and could never get closer than nine points after the Warriors' game-opening run. The last time came in the third quarter, when
Rachel Stankevich (
Sr.-Goodman, Wis.) made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 36-27 with 5:26 left.
Lutheran held steady the rest of the period, though, and then struck a big blow at the end of quarter when Caitlin Knueppel hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 48-33 lead. The Muskies never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.
Stankevich scored a team-high 15 points and added seven rebounds.
Megan Will (
Fr.-Lake Mills, Wis.) scored 13 points and added six rebounds off the bench and
Maddy Doll (
Sr.-Florence, Wis.) also added nine points and eight rebounds. The trio also played a big role in Lakeland finishing with a sizable 37-22 rebounding advantage.
Wisconsin Lutheran shot 45.1% from the field, making 23 of 51 shots, including 15 of 29 in the first half (51.7%). The Warriors also committed just six turnovers.
The game was the final one for Doll and Stankevich, both four-year starters who finish their careers high in a number of categories in the Muskies record book. Stankevich closes her career second in program history in steals (215), sixth in rebounds (747) and 11th in points scored (1,102), while Doll is the team's all-time leader in blocked shots (227) and also is 10th in rebounds with 589.
WLC will host second seed Concordia University Wisconsin for the title after the Falcons eliminated No. 3 Benedictine University 61-52 in Saturday's first game.
