PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team held Benedictine University to 28.4% shooting and weathered a rash of its own turnovers and miscues to earn a 69-56 victory Wednesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies started their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule on the right foot and got a measure of revenge in winning both teams' NACC opener. Lakeland fell to Benedictine twice last season, including by four points in its final regular season game in February, a loss that kept the Muskies from qualifying for the NACC Tournament.

The Muskies (3-4 overall, 1-0 NACC) won despite committing 31 turnovers, including 19 in the first half alone, as well as surrendering 21 offensive rebounds. Lakeland also missed a number of layups, but even with all of the errors the Muskies were still the considerably more efficient offensive team while also minimizing the damage by Benedictine (2-3 overall, 0-1 NACC) while on defense.

Lakeland shot 42.1% (24 of 57) and also was opportunistic from three-point range, making 4 of 8 attempts from deep. The triples came at opportunistic times, too, including back-to-back threes late in the first half from reserves Meryam Belbaz (Sr.-Skokie, Ill.) and Sadie Grabow (Fr.-Bourbonnais, Ill.), the first giving the Muskies the lead and the second capping a 16-4 close to the half to propel Lakeland to a 30-26 lead at halftime.

The Muskies would never trail in the second half, first stretching their lead to seven after Jenna Caterino (Sr.-Stanton, Mich.) hit a three-pointer and A.T. Bartlett (Jr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) hit a pull-up jumper to make it 35-28. The Eagles would rally back to tie it twice, the last time at 39-39 after a layup by Allison Jarvis, but Lakeland finished the quarter on a 9-1 run, and a three by Peyton Madl (Fr.-New Lenox, Ill.) gave the Muskies a 48-40 lead after three periods.

Given the opportunity to close out the game, the Muskies stayed a step ahead of Benedictine the rest of the way. The Eagles briefly closed within 52-46 on a three-pointer by Makenzie Carroll, but Alexis Johnson (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter. That included six straight free throws, and Lakeland hit 11 of 14 from the line over the final 6:32 to finish the victory.

Johnson finished making 8 of 8 free throw attempts and led a balanced attack with contributions throughout the lineup. Halle Boldt (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) scored nine points and added eight rebounds, Bartlett and Meghan MacPhee (So.-Marquette, Mich.) scored eight points each and MacPhee added six rebounds off the bench.

Ariana Vaitkeviciute (Fr.-Merrionette Park, Ill.) also scored six points off the bench in the first half, helping the Muskies stay in contact after Benedictine built an eight-point lead early in the second quarter. Lauryn Johnson (Jr.-Kenosha, Wis.) also scored four points and added 10 rebounds plus a team-high four steals.

The Eagles made just 21 of 74 shots and were 4-for-25 from three-point range (16.0%). Benedictine also scored just 15 second-chance points off of its 21 offensive rebounds, and the Muskies battled back to finish the game with a 49-45 rebounding advantage.

Lakeland is home again Saturday when it welcomes Alverno College for a 2 p.m. start at the Woltzen Gym.