PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team cut a 23-point second half deficit down to seven points late before the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point held on for a 57-48 win Tuesday night in a non-conference game at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies struggled offensively much of the game but controlled the fourth quarter and made the visiting Pointers sweat before finally closing out the victory. UW-Stevens Point improved to 4-0 on the season while Lakeland dropped to 2-2, but not before finishing on an encouraging note against the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe.

The Muskies outscored the Pointers 20-7 in the final quarter, making 8 of 14 shots from the field while holding Stevens Point to 1-for-15 shooting over the final 10 minutes. UWSP led 46-23 late in the third quarter and 50-28 after three periods, but even with the guests largely staying with their starters Lakeland clipped the deficit down to 12 points when Sadie Conway (Sr.-Monroe, Wis.) split two free throws to make it 50-38 with 4 minutes, 9 seconds left in the game.

The Muskies got even closer when Meryam Belbaz (Jr.-Skokie, Ill.) drained a long jumper to make it 52-42 with 3:13 left, but the Pointers answered with their only field goal of the quarter, a three-point play from Gabby Gawlitta on a close block/charge play with A.T. Bartlett (So.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) going to the floor after contact but whistled for the foul.

Lakeland still got within 10 points again when Bartlett hit a three with 1:54 remaining, and Alexis Johnson (So.-Sheboygan, Wis.) converted a three-point play with 22 seconds left to get the Muskies within 55-48. UW-Stevens Point closed it out with two free throws from Courtney Krueger with six seconds left for the game's final points.

Lakeland may well have put even more of a scare into the Pointers late if it had shot better from the free throw line in the second half. The Muskies made just 3 of 8 from the stripe in the fourth quarter and 9 of 20 overall in the second half, finishing the game with a 28-13 advantage in free throw attempts but hitting just 15 of 28 from the line (53.6%).

UW-Stevens Point led almost wire-to-wire, erasing a 5-2 Lakeland lead in the game's opening stages and making use of a big height advantage in scoring 14 straight points to go ahead 16-5 in the first quarter. The Muskies drew within 16-11 at the end of the quarter, but the Pointers owned the second quarter, leading by as much as 19 and leading 36-20 at halftime as Lakeland hit just 6 of 28 shots (21.4%) in the first half.

Johnson finished with 12 points to lead the Muskies, with Bartlett adding 11 and Belbaz also scoring eight points off the bench. Lauryn Johnson (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) added eight rebounds. Lakeland finished shooting 30.0% for the game, making 15 of 50 shots from the field.

Gawlitta and Krueger scored 13 points each for UWSP and Jamie Pfeifer added 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Pointers finished shooting 31.3%, making 21 of 67 shots, and enjoyed a 47-39 rebounding advantage, though the Muskies held their own on the boards after the early going when Point grabbed the game's first 10 rebounds.

Lakeland is home again for its next game Saturday when it hosts Lawrence University for a 1 p.m. start at the Woltzen Gym.