The Muskies and Warriors resume a series that dates back to 1983 and one that has belonged to Wisconsin Lutheran of late. WLC has won six straight over Lakeland, including all three meetings in the COVID-19 abbreviated 2020-21 season. The Warriors won back-to-back games at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Feb. 12-13, 2021 by scores of 68-46 and 70-50, and then rolled to a 73-43 victory in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division playoffs in the most recent matchup March 4, 2021. The Muskies' last win in the series incidentally came against a ranked Lutheran team and spoiled the Warriors' first game as a nationally ranked squad, as Lakeland played a nearly flawless game and won 58-49 at home Jan. 30, 2018.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Illinois Tech 66-50 Saturday
Kacey Gardner finished with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season as the Muskies completed a season sweep of the Scarlet  Hawks by defeating IIT for the second time in seven days. Lakeland finished the first half on an 11-4 run to take a 12-point halftime lead and led by as much as 22 in the third quarter before the Scarlet Hawks rallied within 11 midway through the fourth quarter. The Muskies held a big advantage inside with a 49-32 rebounding advantage and a 42-16 advantage in points in the paint. Lakeland also received 28 points from its bench and made a season-best 90% of its free throws, hitting 18 of 20 at the line.

Wisconsin Lutheran last time out: Won at Rockford 70-39 Saturday
The Warriors continued to roll through NACC competition, holding the Regents to 25.5% shooting to remain undefeated on the season. WLC built a 37-15 halftime lead and led by as much as 37 in the final quarter, and 19 different players saw the court as the Warriors substituted freely throughout. Sam Leisemann scored 13 points, Kalies Birkholz finished with 12 points and Ally Gough and Mack Hogenson added 11 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench. Lutheran continued to be suffocating on defense in conference play, holding its eighth straight opponents below 50 points.

About the Warriors: Wisconsin Lutheran has been the NACC's standard-bearer program under coach Klay Knueppel, winning the conference tournament nine of the last 11 years and also posting eight regular season titles in that stretch. The Warriors are having one of their most successful seasons yet, and enter the night as one of four unbeaten teams in NCAA Division III. Lutheran has climbed as high as 13th in the WBCA D-III coaches poll and is 14th in the most recent D3hoops.com top 25 poll.

Another NACC tourney change: The NACC last week announced another alteration to its conference tournament format for this season. After initially expanding the men's and women's basketball tourneys to eight teams, the decision was made to expand the tournaments to include all teams. The result is an extra round of the tournament for teams finishing 3rd-through-14th in the conference standings, with the first round to be played Saturday, Feb. 19. In order to make room for the extra round of games, contests originally scheduled for Feb. 19 have been canceled, which unfortunately for Lakeland resulted in the cancellation of its game against rival Concordia Wisconsin. The top two seeds will have a bye in the first round, with the third seed facing the No. 14 seed, No. 4 vs. No. 13, No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 against No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9. The higher seeded teams will host for the first round and all subsequent rounds of the tournament.

Schedule update: The Muskies still have outstanding games left to reschedule after postponements from January, and one has now been rescheduled. Lakeland will now take on Aurora on the road Friday, Feb. 11 at 5 p.m., to make up the teams' game originally scheduled for Jan. 15.

Gardner cracks top 10, Sauerbrei on doorstep: Along with her double-double on Saturday, Kacey Gardner also moved into the top 10 in another Lakeland career statistical category. Gardner finished with three assists in the game to give her 268 assists for her career, surpassing Aimee Thrune (267 from 2010-14) for 10th in program history. Gardner also is ninth among Muskies in career steals with 177. Fellow guard Kerstin Sauerbrei also made one three-pointer against Illinois Tech, her 41st triple of the season. Sauerbrei is currently tied for the 11th-most made three-pointers in the season by a Muskie, one off a tie for the ninth-most threes in a season.