PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Aurora University shot 56.7% in the second half and heated up from three-point range to pull away and defeat the Lakeland University women's basketball team 73-56 Saturday at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

An Alumni Day that included a large contingent of Muskies returning to campus ended on a down note, as a back-and-forth game for most of the first three quarters slipped away. The Spartans went on a 24-7 over seven minutes spanning the third and fourth periods and won their eighth straight game to improve to 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, while Lakeland saw its four-game streak stopped and fell to 7-8 overall and 5-3 in conference.

The Spartans also completed a sweep of the regular season series between the teams, and won in a similar fashion to the teams' first meeting Dec. 10. The Muskies held a lead late into the third quarter in that game but Aurora shot 56% in the second half and used two quick runs to pull away for a 71-61 win.

The Spartans made 17 of 30 in the final 20 minutes on Sunday, setting a pace Lakeland was unable to keep up with. The Muskies finished shooting 29.9% (20 of 67), including just 8 of 29 (27.6%) in the second half.

Despite cold-shooting through most of the game, Lakeland dug out of an early nine-point hole. Aurora hit four of its first six shots to quickly go ahead 14-5 just over four minutes in, and the Spartans led 20-11 after one quarter. The Muskies would control the second quarter, though, and took their first lead at 24-23 with 4:49 left in the half on a layup by Alexa Yost (Jr.-Menasha, Wis.). Brianna Jones (Sr.-Indianapolis, Ind.) would drive and score three minutes later to put Lakeland back ahead, and it would take a 28-27 lead into halftime.

The teams would swap the lead five times in the third quarter, and a layup by Kacey Gardner (Sr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) put the Muskies up 34-33 with 6:35 left in the period. Crystal Rios would hit a short jumper less than a minute later, though, and that would begin a stretch where Aurora hit 8 of its final 10 shots to close out the quarter, taking a 51-42 lead after 30 minutes.

The Spartans would stay hot to start the fourth, making 3 of their first 4 shots. The last came as Talia Bee made a line-drive three-pointer for a 61-43 lead, the largest lead of the game. Lakeland scored seven straight points later in the quarter to get back within 64-53 but got no closer.

Gardner finished with 13 points to lead the Muskies and also added two assists, moving within one assist of tying Kayla Clark's school career record of 340 assists. Jones also posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Mackenzie Miller (Fr.-Schoolcraft, Mich.) added eight points and 11 boards, including five offensive rebounds as Lakeland finished with a 47-43 rebounding edge.

Aurora finished making 26 of 64 shots for the game (40.6%), including 9 of 28 from three-point land (32.1%). The Spartans were just 3 for 19 from behind the arc well into the third quarter but hit 6 of their final 9 from deep. Rios scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds and Macy Kocen scored 14 points.

The Muskies are back home Wednesday when they host Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7 p.m.