WHITEWATER, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team hung around early but eventually was plagued by cold shooting in a 78-35 loss to highly ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Saturday afternoon.
The Muskies fell to the host school that entered the season ranked No. 4 nationally in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Preseason Poll. Lakeland finished 0-2 in the UW-Whitewater Tip-Off Tournament after losses to a pair of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents that combined to win 40 games between them last year.
The Muskies made just 10 of 50 field goals (20.0%) against Whitewater (2-0 overall), committed 32 turnovers and also were outrebounded 43-28. Despite that, Lakeland still was within six points of the Warhawks late in the second quarter before the hosts finished the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 32-16 lead at halftime.
UW-Whitewater blew the game open with a 31-point third quarter, outscoring the Muskies 31-12 in the period. Including the run to end the first half, the Warhawks finished outscoring Lakeland 56-19 over the game's final 24 minutes.
Freshman
Sadie Grabow (
Fr.-Bourbonnais, Ill.) led Lakeland with six points off the bench and also added a team-high four steals.
A.T. Bartlett (
Jr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) also added five points and a team-high six rebounds and represented the Muskies on the all-tournament team. Eleven different players scored for Lakeland.
Halle Boldt (
Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) and
Jenna Caterino (
Sr.-Stanton, Mich.) added five rebounds each and
Lauryn Johnson (
Jr.-Kenosha, Wis.) finished with three steals. Lakeland was able to force the Warhawks into 26 turnovers, 11 more than UWW averaged a season ago and a number Whitewater exceeded only once last season.
Kacie Carollo scored 18 points and added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead UW-Whitewater, which shot 48.3% (29 of 60). Mallory Oloffson added 10 points and six rebounds.
The Muskies now get ready for their home opener Tuesday when they welcome Maranatha Baptist University for a 7 p.m. tip at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
