The Muskies and Cougars became well-acquainted last season, meeting three times in a span of 19 days in February 2022. Lakeland won two of the games, including the most recent, a 71-54 victory at home in the first round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. That win came just five days after Concordia posted a 54-44 victory to spoil the Muskies' Senior Night. Nearly all of the history between the two teams dates back to the two joining the NACC in 2006, with the only meeting before that coming Nov. 17, 2001, with Lakeland rolling to a 90-46 win at home.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Illinois Tech 86-70 Saturday
The Muskies produced one of the best shooting performances in program history, draining 59.3% of their shots in handling the Scarlet Hawks. Lakeland shot 54.5% in the first half and was even better at 65.4% in the second half on the way to its third straight victory. The Muskies finished not far off the best single-game mark in school history of 62.7% set against Mount Mary Dec. 29, 2003.

Lauren Downs scored 15 points, Kacey Gardner contributed 14 and Mackenzie Miller added 13 points and 11 rebounds. Gardner also added four assists and is now in sole possession of second on the school's all-time career assists list with 331, nine assists from tying current Muskies assistant coach Kayla Clark for most in school history. Lakeland also outrebounded IIT 46-36 and received 44 points from its bench on the way to a season-high scoring total.

Concordia Chicago last time out: Lost to Concordia Wisconsin 76-55 Saturday
The Cougars dropped a NACC game for the first time this season, falling at home in the battle of the Concordias. Concordia Wisconsin rebounded from a 16-point loss at home to Lakeland earlier in the week, making 11 of 19 from three-point range while also holding the Cougars to 30.8% shooting for the game. Katherine Benes scored 27 points and Mikalah Ellis added 17 for CUC, but the rest of the team combined for just 11 points and made 3 of 29 field goals. The game was the second meeting of the teams already this season, with CUW avenging a 67-63 loss in the first matchup in November.

About the Cougars: Concordia Chicago has been the surprise of the NACC early on, racing to the top of the standings winning its first six conference contests. The Cougars have been led by Benes, who in her first year with the team has been the most explosive scorer in NCAA Division III, leading the country averaging 25.6 points per game. The 5-foot-3 sophomore has scored at least 22 points in all but two games, with a high of 38 in the first meeting against Concordia Wisconsin. Concordia also has the top rebounder in the NACC in Alisyn MacGregor (10.6 rpg), and the Cougars are on pace to finish well ahead of their win total last year when they finished 7-16 overall and 6-11 in conference.