Alverno College Inferno (1-5 overall, 0-2 NACC)
at Lakeland University Muskies (4-4 overall, 1-1 NACC)
Monday, Dec. 6, 2021    7 p.m.
Woltzen Gymnasium

Lakeland/Alverno Game Notes   PDF

The Lakeland University women's basketball team begins a stretch of five straight home games and looks to break a string of alternating wins and losses when it hosts Alverno College Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

Broadcast Information:
Live video & live statistics: http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the play-by-play for all Lakeland home basketball games this year.

Series history: 35th meeting, Lakeland leads 27-7
After a brief blip in the 20-teens, the Muskies have retaken control of the series with Alverno, winning 11 straight matchups, including the last ten all by double-digit margins. Lakeland is already 2-0 against the Inferno this year, with wins by scores of 58-36 and 53-36 on the road in Milwaukee Feb. 23-24 as part of the abbreviated 2020-21 season. The Muskies' last win at the Woltzen Gymnasium was a 71-50 victory Jan. 11, 2020, while Alverno's most recent win in the series came in the teams' second meeting of the 2015-16 season in Milwaukee, a 65-62 win Feb. 14, 2016 that marked the Inferno's fifth win in seven meetings between 2013-16. Lakeland won the first nine meetings in the series, which dates back to 2003.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Dominican 76-41 Saturday
The Muskies turned a close game into a rout in the second half, outscoring the Stars 46-17 over the final two quarters including a 27-3 run over the third and fourth quarters. Lakeland shot 51.6% in the second half, held Dominican to 21.4% shooting in the half and also outrebounded the hosts 30-10 over the final 20 minutes. Kerstin Sauerbrei scored 17 points and made five three-pointers, Kacey Gardner and Lauren Downs both scored 12 points and Alexa Yost added 10 points. Ellie Felsinger and Brianna Jones added 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively, and keyed a 54-28 rebounding advantage for the game.

Alverno last time out: Lost at Concordia Chicago 60-24 Saturday
The Inferno fell behind 23-2 after one quarter and struggled mightily on the offensive end in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference loss to the Cougars. Alverno scored just six points in the first half and trailed 40-6 at halftime and 52-13 through three quarters before scoring nearly half of its points in the final quarter. Grace Lupumba scored 10 points and added nine rebounds and four blocked shots but the Inferno shot 20.9% and also committed 27 turnovers. Alverno was playing without leading scorer Keeshya Bellows, who averaged 13 points and 8.6 rebounds through the first five games. Twenty-one different players saw action for Concordia, with none playing more than 19 minutes or scoring more than nine points.

About the Inferno: Alverno is 1-5 on the season, with its lone win a 56-52 victory over Mount Mary Nov. 23. The Inferno also had a narrow miss just before defeating the Blue Angels, falling to Crown (Minn.) 62-50 Nov. 19. Alverno finished 0-10 in the NACC's spring 2020-21 season and 5-20 in 2019-20 in its most recent full season. Nancy (Osborne) Rockwell is in her fourth year as head coach and has a young roster with just two seniors, though the team includes a formidable frontcourt with Bellows (6-foot-1) and Lupumba, who at 6-2 averages nearly 11 rebounds per game.

Three-point bonanza: Lakeland has found a weapon from long range in Kerstin Sauerbrei, who has made at least four three-pointers in each of the last three games and at least one triple in every game this season. The sophomore has topped out at five threes made in games against Dominican and nationally ranked Wheaton, and her 22 threes made puts her among both the NACC and NCAA Division III leaders. Sauerbrei leads the conference in total threes made and also in threes made per game (2.8), in addition to being eighth in the NACC in three-point field goal percentage (34.9%). She also tied for 34th in Division III in three-pointers made and tied for 41st in threes made per game.