Lakeland has mostly dominated the all-time series with Milwaukee School of Engineering, which dates back to 1987. The teams have met just once in the past two seasons, though, and MSOE won the last matchup with a 67-53 win exactly one year ago in Milwaukee. The Muskies prior to that had won the last seven meetings, with their last win coming Feb. 5, 2020 with a 76-60 victory at the Woltzen Gymnasium. The series dates back to Feb. 9, 1987, when Lakeland won the first game 89-34 at home, and the Muskies won the first 26 meetings and 39 of the first 40 overall.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to Aurora 73-56 Saturday
A battle between two teams on winning streaks was a showdown for most of the first three quarters, with the teams combining for 10 lead changes and the Muskies rallying from an early nine-point deficit to take the lead. The Spartans heated up in the second half, though, shooting 56.7% over the final 20 minutes, and in particular hit 11 of 14 shots over a stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters. Aurora also drained nine three-pointers in the game, including six in the second half, and Lakeland was unable to keep up shooting 29.9% for the game. Kacey Gardner scored 13 points and Brianna Jones added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

MSOE last time out: Lost to Benedictine 59-53 Saturday
The Raiders came achingly close to stopping a four-game losing streak, but the Eagles rallied from an eight-point deficit with just over six minutes left, taking the lead with 52 seconds left and finishing the game on a 21-7 run. Benedictine's 52-51 lead on two free throws by Makenzie Carroll in the final minute was its first lead since early in the third quarter and came after MSOE led by as much as nine. Grace Ellington scored 13 points and Mahima Chokshi added 11 for the Raiders, who forced 21 Benedictine turnovers but were outrebounded by the Eagles 42-28.

About the Raiders: MSOE got off to a 0-5 start to its season, but of late has been considerably more competitive than its overall record suggests. The Raiders have lost five straight, but three of their last four losses have been by seven points or less, including one at perennial NACC heavyweight Wisconsin Lutheran. MSOE finished 7-15 a year ago and posted a 5-10 mark in the NACC, and this year has struggled to score averaging 47.5 points per game but also is forcing more than 20 turnovers per game, second-best in the conference.

One more, two more: Kacey Gardner posted two assists against Aurora on Saturday to give her 339 assists for her career, and she now needs one assist to tie and two assists to break assistant coach and 2013-17 Muskie Kayla Clark for the Lakeland school career record with 340 assists. Clark has held the school's career assists record since Feb. 18, 2017; before that, the record had stood for 32 years, since Helle Stokke compiled 327 assists from 1981-85.