WAUWATOSA, Wis. – Wisconsin Lutheran College got off to a fast start and the Lakeland University women's basketball team never could catch up again in dropping a 59-43 decision Wednesday night at WLC's Time of Grace Center.
The Warriors built a 13-point lead after one quarter and had answers every time the Muskies made a push to get close. Lakeland also struggled to get its offense on track against always-stingy WLC and dropped to 10-10 overall and 8-5 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with five regular season games to play.
The Muskies shot 32.7%, making 16 of 49 shots, including just 8 of 27 (29.6%) in the first half as Lutheran (14-6 overall, 11-2 NACC) built leads of 20-7 after one period and 33-19 at halftime.
The Warriors came out hot making 7 of 13 shots (53.8%) in the first quarter, though Lakeland hung around and chipped away in both the second and third quarters. That included the Muskies cutting the deficit to six when
Lauren Downs (
Sr.-West Bend, Wis.) hit a three-pointer to make it 23-17 with 6:24 left in the first half.
Scoring droughts and turnovers would prove to be too much to overcome for Lakeland, which after the Downs three-pointer went more than five minutes before scoring again. The Muskies again made a push in the third quarter, though, cutting a 16-point deficit in half twice, first on two
Alexa Yost (
Jr.-Menasha, Wis.) free throws and the second time when
Mackenzie Miller (
Fr.-Schoolcraft, Mich.) made two free throws to make it 40-32 with 38 seconds left in the third quarter.
The end of the third and the start of the fourth were Lakeland's final undoing. The Warriors first scored twice in the final seconds of the third, including a steal and layup by Meggie Scott just before the third period buzzer to go ahead 44-32, the second time the hosts had beat the buzzer to end a quarter. WLC then would score the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, in all going on a 14-0 run over 3:27 to effectively put the game away with a 54-32 lead with 6:51 left.
Miller finished with 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Downs added seven points to lead Lakeland, which received 29 of its 43 points from reserves.
Kacey Gardner (
Sr.-Evergreen Park, Ill.) also added four points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Muskies committed 21 turnovers, one of their highest numbers of the season and nearly equaling the 24 turnovers the team committed in its previous three games combined. Lakeland also made just 2 of 9 from three-point range, limited from long range after combining for 22 triples in its previous two games.
Sam Leisemann scored 10 points to lead balanced scoring for WLC, which after the opening quarter cooled and shot 36.2% (17 of 47) for the game and posted a slim 34-33 rebounding edge. The Warriors also spent plenty of time at the free throw line, converting 21 of 28 foul shots (75.0%),
The Muskies take to the road again Saturday when they travel to face Rockford University for a 4:15 p.m. tip.
