APPLETON, Wis. – Mackenzie Miller (Fr.-Schoolcraft, Mich.), Kacey Gardner (Sr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) and Brianna Jones (Sr.-Indianapolis, Ind.) combined for 44 points and the Lakeland University women's basketball team earned its first win of the season defeating Lawrence University 60-49 on the road Saturday.

The Muskies took the lead early and never gave it back, leading by as many as 16 points and responding when the Vikings made a brief run in the fourth quarter. Lakeland ended a challenging four-game road stretch with a victory and also defeated Lawrence for the second straight year, backing up a 55-51 win over the Vikings at home last year on Thanksgiving weekend.

Miller scored 16 points and added 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. The freshman made 7 of 12 shots from the field as she continued to provide offense off the bench for the Muskies, scoring in double figures for the fourth straight game.

Gardner stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists and seven steals. The latter was a career high, and the Lakeland point guard continued to move up both the Muskies' career assists and steals lists. Her 318 assists moved her into third all-time in school history, passing Diane Kipp (314 from 1985-89), and she also blew past the 200-steals mark for her career and now is fourth all-time with 206 steals after passing Shelley Collette (200 steals from 1992-95) and Bailey Grayvold (203 from 2013-17).

Jones added a season-high 14 points plus seven rebounds, and together the trio made 18 of 32 shots. With Miller adding three steals and Jones two, the three also combined for 13 steals.

Lakeland trailed 7-6 early in the first quarter but took hold of the game over the next nine minutes. The Muskies held the Vikings scoreless in that stretch, with Lawrence missing 11 straight shots and committing seven turnovers. Lakeland scored 13 straight points, leading 16-7 after one quarter and going ahead 19-7 after a three-pointer by Sydney Walker (Jr.-Flint, Mich.) with 7:58 left in the first half.

The Vikings (1-4 overall) climbed back into the game and trailed 24-20 late in the second period after a layup by Caroline Sharpe, but the Muskies finished the half strong. Miller scored on a layup, Jones hit a jumper and then on a driving layup, and Miller hit two foul shots with a second left to give Lakeland a 32-20 halftime lead.

The Muskies began to slowly pull away in the third, with Jones driving and dropping off a pass to Miller for a short jumper and the largest lead of the game at 45-29. Lawrence would make a run, and trailed 48-40 after two free throws by Maggie Culver with 6:45 left in the game. Lakeland answered next time down, with Kerstin Sauerbrei (Jr.-Ripon, Wis.) knocking down her first three-pointer of the game, and the Vikings got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

The Muskies finished shooting 38.7% (24 of 62), including 4 of 21 from three-point range. Lakeland also held Lawrence to 33.3% shooting (19 of 57), with Mallory Meyer leading the Vikings with 15 points.

The Muskies are back home for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks on Wednesday when they host St. Norbert College at 7 p.m. in their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener.