Two wins in two days will be the goal when the Lakeland University women's basketball team begins play in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament when it faces Concordia University Wisconsin at 5 p.m. in a semifinal Friday night at Wisconsin Lutheran College's Recreation Complex.

The second-seeded Muskies will open their tournament by facing the No. 3 seed Falcons in the first of two semifinals Friday, with hopes of advancing to Saturday night's championship game at 7 p.m. The tourney winner will clinch the NACC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Muskies (20-5 overall) earned the No. 2 seed in the tourney and a bye into the semifinals by virtue of their 16-4 record in conference play, finishing behind regular season champion Wisconsin Lutheran and second-place Benedictine, which is ineligible for the conference tournament. Lakeland is making its fifth straight trip to the NACC tourney.

Concordia (18-8 overall) finished one game behind Lakeland in the standings at 15-5 and advanced to the semifinals with a 57-46 win over 6th-seeded MSOE on Tuesday. CUW also was a tourney finalist last year, falling to top seed Wisconsin Lutheran 66-59 in the championship game.

Lakeland and Concordia played twice in the regular season, with both games won by the Muskies in overtime. Lakeland earned a hard-fought 77-70 victory at home on Dec. 4, 2018, as Megan Will (So.-Lake Mills, Wis.) scored a career-high 27 points, and the Muskies also pulled out an 89-81 on the road in Mequon on Feb. 2 as Miranda Jacobson (Sr.-Felch, Mich.) scored a career-best 36 points.

The tournament features a new format this year, with the regular season champion hosting both semifinals plus the championship game. Friday's second semifinal features top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran hosting No. 4 Dominican.

WLC is the tourney's defending champion and enters with a 24-1 overall record and went 19-1 in NACC play this year. The Warriors have won seven of the last eight NACC Tournament titles and eight of 12 in the conference's history.

Lakeland is aiming for its third NACC tourney crown, and the Muskies interrupted WLC's recent run of success by claiming the 2017 title with a 64-60 win at Concordia Wisconsin in the final. Lakeland also won the 2010 tourney, defeating Benedictine 71-60 in the final.

Wisconsin Lutheran College will provide live video of Friday and Saturday's games at https://www.wlcsports.com/fans/warriorssportsnetwork. Live statistics of Friday night's game also will be available at http://www.naccsports.org/sports/wbkb/2018-19/boxscores/20190222_kg31.xml.

2019 NACC Tournament Bracket
NACC Tournament Information Page