After a brief blip in the 20-teens, the Muskies have retaken control of the series with Alverno, winning 14 straight matchups, including the last 13 all by double-digit margins. Lakeland won last season's lone meeting earlier in 2024, defeating the Infero 79-62 in January as Alexis Johnson led four scoring in double figures with 17 points. The last meeting at the Woltzen Gymnasium came exactly three years ago, as the Muskies rolled to a 61-34 win. Alverno's most recent win in the series came in the teams' second meeting of the 2015-16 season in Milwaukee, a 65-62 win Feb. 14, 2016 that marked the Inferno's fifth win in seven meetings between 2013-16. Lakeland won the first nine meetings in the series, which dates back to 2003.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Benedictine 69-56 Wednesday
A strange, disjointed night nevertheless resulted in all well in the end as the Muskies won their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener. The game started late as the Eagles' team bus got caught up in wintry weather that popped up Wednesday evening, but it was Lakeland struggling at the outset with 12 turnovers in the first quarter and 19 in the first half. The Muskies rallied from an 8-point deficit in the first half to take a four-point halftime lead, though, and then pulled away in the second half after Benedictine briefly tied the score twice in the third quarter.

Lakeland shot 42.1% and all four of its three-pointers came at clutch times, and the Muskies held the Eagles to 28.4% shooting. Alexis Johnson scored 14 points and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line, Halle Boldt totaled nine points and eight rebounds, Lauryn Johnson pulled down 10 rebounds, and every player to get in the contest made contributions, including 27 points from the bench. The win over Benedictine, even early in the season, already represents a sign of progress after Lakeland fell to the Eagles twice last season.

Alverno last time out: Lost at Edgewood 92-53 Wednesday
The shorthanded Inferno fell hard in their NACC opener on the road in Madison, wearing down after a respectable start. Edgewood led just 30-24 at halftime, but the hosts fired up for 62 points in the second half, including a 33-12 advantage in the final quarter. Alverno shot just 26.2%, with Gemini Ventura leading with 18 points, sevne rebounds and three blocked shots and Shiauna Nixon-Boyd adding 10 points plus eight rebounds. Already with a small roster this year, the Inferno played with just seven players, and the Eagles finished with a 39-0 advantage in bench points.

About Alverno: Alverno is 2-4 overall on the season so far, with its four losses coming after opening the campaign with victories over Blackburn (Ill.) and Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.). The two wins are already two-thirds of the way to the team's win total from all of last season, when the Inferno finished 3-22 overall and 1-15 in the NACC. Alverno is led by second-year coach Karlyle Ross, and after Saturday the Inferno will not play again in the continental United States until January, though the team will be playing in an event in Puerto Rico just before Christmas.

Balanced, again: In its first season under coach Ashley Lona last year, Lakeland featured a team with opportunities for just about everyone, with 13 different players averaging at least seven minutes per game. This year's team is similar, with 11 players playing at least 10 minutes/game so far, and the scoring is spread around even more than a year ago. Nine different players are averaging at least 4.0 points per contest, led by A.T. Bartlett with 12.3 ppg. Alexis Johnson has joined Bartlett in making the leap to double figures scoring as well, and Alexis is averaging 10.7 ppg and shooting a team-best 56.5% from the field.