Edgewood College Eagles (4-10 overall, 4-3 NACC)
at Lakeland University Muskies (7-6 overall, 3-3 NACC)
Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022 2 p.m.
Woltzen Gymnasium
Lakeland/Edgewood Game Notes PDF
The Lakeland University women's basketball team faces one of the hotter teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and looks for its first win since before the holidays when it hosts Edgewood College Saturday 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: The series between Lakeland and Edgewood goes back to Lakeland's early years of playing women's basketball. Complete series records are unavailable, but in known meetings the Muskies hold a 40-28 all-time series lead. The Eagles have controlled the series of late, though, winning the last six matchups, including by scores of 69-49 and 71-65 last year Feb. 19-20, with both games in Madison. Edgewood also won the most recent meeting at Lakeland with a 70-52 victory Nov. 23, 2019. Prior to Edgewood's recent success, the Muskies had won six straight over the Eagles, including most recently a 63-54 win at home Jan. 16, 2018.
Lakeland last time out: Lost at MSOE 67-53 Tuesday
The Muskies had one of their worst halves of the season and the Raiders took advantage in the second half to pull away in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game. Lakeland led 38-37 after a high-scoring first half but then scored just 15 points in the final 20 minutes, the Muskies' lowest-scoring half of the season. Lakeland made just 5 of 26 shots in the second half and the Engineers took advantage, outscoring the Muskies 21-8 in the third quarter including a 16-4 run to close the period. Lakeland made 10 of its first 20 shots in the game but shot just 25% thereafter and finished shooting 33.3%.
Lauren Downs led the Muskies with 12 points and
Kacey Gardner added 10 points and 13 rebounds for her third straight double-double and fourth double-double of the season.
Edgewood last time out: Defeated Dominican 68-53 Tuesday
The Eagles received a battle from a struggling Dominican team but pulled away in the final minutes to win their fourth straight NACC game. The Stars led much of the first half and carried a 30-29 lead into halftime, but Edgewood took the lead for good with a 10-0 run early in the third quarter and never trailed again, even as Dominican was within six points with less than three minutes left in the game. Freshman Vivian Guerrero scored a career-high 23 points and Diamond Pikulyk added 17 points, and the two paced an inside game that helped the Eagles shoot 45.6% for the game.
About the Eagles: Edgewood has started to hit its stride after getting off to a 1-10 start that included a brutal non-conference schedule. The team was thrown to the wolves against a slate that included five members of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, four teams currently ranked in the NCAA Division III D3hoops.com top 25 poll, and Hope (Mich.), the No. 1-ranked team in Division III. The Eagles also lost their first three NACC games including a loss to nationally ranked Wisconsin Lutheran, but have been one of the conference's top teams in recent years, including an NACC North Division regular season championship in last year's COVID-19 abbreviated season, plus a 25-3 record, NACC tourney title and Division III tourney bid in 2019-20.
Kacey on the glass: Kacey Gardner has been one of the top rebounders in the NACC this season and is doing it from a backcourt position. She leads Lakeland in rebounding and has pulled down at least 10 rebounds in five games this season. Her 8.5 boards per contest ranks seventh in the conference, but that number is doubly impressive when considering her height. At 5-foot-6, she is easily the shortest player among the conference leaders in the category, and in fact is the only player shorter than 5-9 to rank among the conference's top 15 in caroms.
Postseason lifeline: Many teams are still early in their NACC schedules, and the Muskies are one of a gaggle of six teams with three conference losses so far. Teams competing for a spot in the tourney found out this week, though, that there will be two more spots in this year's NACC Tournament. The tourney has been expanded from six to eight teams, eliminating first round byes for the top two seeds and ensuring the top eight teams in the final standings will qualify for the conference tournament.
