DE PERE, Wis. – St. Norbert College went on a trio of extended runs that were too much for the Lakeland University women's basketball team to overcome as it fell by a 63-43 score Tuesday night at the Mulva Sports Center.
The Muskies lost their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener in a game that also was the first-ever NACC contest for the Green Knights in their first year in the conference. Lakeland continued its early-season trend of alternating wins and losses and dropped to 3-4 overall while St. Norbert improved to 3-4.
The Muskies played well in spells, including building a six-point lead early in the second quarter.
Kacey Gardner (
Sr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) hit a three-pointer to break a 12-12 tie after one quarter, and
Alexa Yost (
So.-Menasha, Wis.) drained another three to give Lakeland a 20-14 lead with 8 minutes, 10 seconds left before halftime.
St. Norbert would surge from there, scoring 14 unanswered points over the next 5:30 to take a 28-20 lead. The Green Knights scored all 14 of their points in the paint in their run while the Muskies committed six turnovers and in all went scoreless for nearly 6 1/2 minutes.
Lakeland still trailed just 30-26 at halftime after
Kerstin Sauerbrei (
So.-Ripon, Wis.) made consecutive three-pointers late in the first half, and her third triple of the game kept the Muskies within 32-29 early in the third quarter. The hosts would heat up again, though, going on a 13-2 spurt and taking a 45-31 lead on a layup by Kaylee Gierczak with 3:48 left in the third.
Lakeland would rally back as close as nine and was still within 53-43 with 4:53 left in the game after another three-pointer by Sauerbrei. The Muskies would not score again, missing their final five field goals and four free throws as St. Norbert finished scoring the game's final ten points.
Sauerbrei scored 12 points to lead Lakeland,
Morgan Zenon (
Sr.-Twin Lakes, Wis.) finished with eight points, six rebounds and four blocked shots off the bench and Gardner added five points, seven rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Lakeland shot 30.8% for the game, making 16 of 52 shots, and also committed 17 turnovers, five more than the hosts. St. Norbert turned that into an 18-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Green Knights shot 42.6% (26 of 61) and finished with a huge 44-14 lead in points in the paint. St. Norbert also outrebounded the Muskies 44-28, and both Gierczak and Jessica Boerner finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds each.
Lakeland is back on the road Saturday when it travels to face Dominican University at 2 p.m. in River Forest, Ill.
