MADISON – Megan Will (Sr.-Lake Mills, Wis.) and Kacey Gardner (Jr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) had big games but the Lakeland University women's basketball team came up just short of toppling the defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champions, falling to Edgewood College 71-65 Saturday night.

The Muskies challenged the Eagles for the second straight night but Edgewood completed the two-game weekend sweep to stay atop the NACC North Division, improving to 8-3 overall and 7-0 in conference. Lakeland dropped to 2-5 overall and is now 1-5 in the NACC North with four division games to play.

The Muskies made a spirited comeback from 11 points down in the third quarter to tie the game on three different occasions but couldn't quite overtake the Eagles. Lakeland was within six points for the game's final 15 minutes but Edgewood answered every time.

After tying the contest three times in the third quarter, Lakeland came back from six points down to get back within one in the fourth quarter after a jumper by Morgan Zenon (Jr.-Twin Lakes, Wis.) made it 59-58 with 6:27 remaining in the game. Edgewood scored the next time down on a Alyssa Lemirande basket in the paint, but the Muskies had no less than six chances to tie or get closer. A four-minute scoring drought forced Lakeland to foul late, though, and Edgewood made eight free throws to close out the game.

Gardner scored a career-high 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting and added seven rebounds and seven assists, tying her previous career high in assists. The junior guard was one of the Muskies' primary catalysts on offense and scored 12 points in the first half, including a three-point buzzer-beater that kept the Eagles' lead in single-digits going into halftime. Will also added a game-high 17 points, making 7 of 13 shots and also adding six rebounds and two blocked shots.

While all but two of Lakeland's field goals came from inside the three-point arc, Edgewood took advantage from the outside. The Eagles shot 24 of 62 (38.7%) from the field overall, but hit 8 of 17 (47.1%) from three-point range. The Muskies were better overall from the field, hitting 27 of 66 (40.9%), but made just 2 of 13 (15.4%) from beyond the arc. Despite the Muskies' affinity for the paint, where they outscored the Eagles 36-24, Edgewood outrebounded Lakeland 49-35.

Edgewood started pulling away in the second quarter, thanks in part to a two-minute spurt early on where the Eagles went on a 13-4 run with three three-pointers. Edgewood, which made 5 of 8 threes in the first half, led by as much as 13 at 38-25 with 2:39 left in the first half, but the Muskies scored the last five points of the half to stay within striking distance going into the break.

Hayley Walding (Jr.-Bradenton, Fla.) also added nine points and five rebounds for Lakeland. Freshman Alexa Yost (Menasha, Wis.) scored eight points and Zenon also scored six points.

Bria Lemirande led a quartet of Eagles to score in double digits with 16 points and also added a career-high 17 rebounds. Emma Klein totaled 14 points and nine rebounds, Alyssa Lemirande notched 13 points, and Paige Banks scored 11 points.

Lakeland now gets ready for a busy week that starts Tuesday when they take on the Alverno College Inferno in Milwaukee. The game marks the first of four games in five days for the Muskies, and tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday night.