The Lakeland University makes its return to the court and jumps right into tough Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference competition when it hosts rival Concordia University Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Fan attendance policy: Under current COVID-19 protocols, Lakeland University is currently not allowing any spectators for home sporting events.
Broadcast Information: Live audio/video/statistics are all available to follow along with at
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the play-by-play for all home basketball games this year.
Series history: Lakeland and Concordia are long-time rivals with a series dating back to when both schools began women's basketball in the 1970s. Complete series records are unavailable, but in Lakeland records dating back to 1982 the Falcons hold a 50-40 lead in 90 meetings. The teams split two meetings last season, with the Muskies posting a 62-54 victory Dec. 3, 2019 in Mequon and CUW coming back for a 66-58 win at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Feb. 8, 2020. Concordia dominated the series from 2007-17, winning 20 of 23 matchups during a stretch, but the teams have split their last eight meetings since then.
About Lakeland: The Muskies will play for the first time in more than 11 months, and more than two months after thier season was originally slated to begin. First semester play was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lakeland currently will face a 10-game Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division schedule, with the possibility of non-conference competition mixed in.
The Muskies finished 11-14 last season and tied for sixth in the NACC with an 11-9 mark. Lakeland missed out on a spot in the NACC Tournament on tiebreakers, and this year the program has a new coach as
Amber Peterson takes over after seven years as an assistant. She returns an experienced team with three starters back led by 6-foot-2 senior post
Megan Will, who enters the season needing 68 pts to reach 1,000 for her career. Including Will,
Janai' Farr (8.2 ppg) and
Hayley Walding (6.5 ppg), the team's top three scorers are back and seven players in all return who averaged at least four points per game last year.
About Concordia: The Falcons come into the NACC opener with three games already under their belts. Most recently, Concordia topped MSOE 57-45 last Saturday in a non-conference date between the two NACC schools. Sophomore Lindsey Smitsdorff scored 16 points and added 17 rebounds and the game marked a significant milestone for coach Stacey Brunner-Jones, who notched her 300th career win as coach of the Falcons.
Concordia finished 14-12 last year and 13-7 in the NACC. The Falcons extended their string to 15 consecutive seasons with a winning record, though the fifth-place league finish was their lowest since 2011-12. Four starters return from a year ago including 2019-20 leading scorer Emily Hafemann (13.2 ppg), while Smitsdorff has been outstanding in CUW's first three games this year averaging 17.0 ppg and 13.0 rpg.
Muskies in openers: All-time records are incomplete, but in records going back to 1981, Lakeland is 22-17 in season opening games. The Muskies lost to St. Norbert 59-50 in their 2019-20 season debut, while their last win to begin the season came the year before with an exciting 55-53 win over UW-River Falls in Nov. 2018.
