The Muskies and Regents meet for the first and only time this season in a series that Lakeland had largely owned until the past few years. Rockford has won two of the last three matchups between the teams, including a 61-51 victory at home in Illinois just over a year ago on Jan. 24, 2024. The Muskies' last win in the series came the previous year, also at Rockford with a 73-42 victory Feb. 4, 2023. The Regents won the last time the teams played at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium, though, rallying for a 60-54 win Feb. 5, 2022, in a game where Lakeland trailed for just 1:34 all game but the Regents finished on a 17-4 run. The Muskies and Rockford first met on Nov. 21, 1997, with the Muskies picking up an 82-36 win on the way to winning the first five meetings all-time between the two schools.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Alverno 73-51 Wednesday
The Muskies were in control throughout and completed a season sweep of the Inferno to improve to 5-2 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play. Halle Boldt and Jenna Caterino both had career-high games in posting double-doubles, with Boldt setting career highs with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Caterino adding 11 points plus a career-best 14 rebounds. The two helped Lakeland to a massive 60-31 rebounding advantage, the team's biggest rebounding edge this season. Alexis Johnson also scored 11 points, Jenna Shea added 10 points and A.T. Bartlett chipped in a season-high eight rebounds plus five rebounds and four assists.

Rockford last time out: Lost to Aurora 70-60 Wednesday
The Regents were competitive at home against one of the NACC's better teams but came up short against the Spartans. Rockford trailed by just one at halftime and continued to hang around the entire second half, even trailing by just six in the final minute before Aurora closed the game out at the free throw line. The Regents shot just 35.5% but made seven three-pointers and battled to a near draw on the boards, with the Spartans holding a slim 40-39 rebounding edge. D'Asia Washington put together a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Lexi Keating also scored 13 points. Alyssa Havard and Katie Paredes both added 12 points each and Jocelyn Callahan gave Rockford five players in double figures with 10 points off the bench.

About the Regents: Rockford has been more competitive than its 3-11 overall record would indicate, with six losses by 12 points or less, including 10-point losses to NACC contenders Aurora and MSOE. The Regents have lost 11 of their last 13 since a season-opening win over Beloit, with conference wins coming over Alverno and Illinois Tech. Rockford has a first-year head coach in Ta-Rel Franklin, who came to the school after one year as the director of basketball operations at NCAA Division I Cal Poly. The Regents finished 11-15 overall last year and 7-9 in the NACC, and were the team to keep Lakeland out of the NACC Tournament, winning a tiebreaker with the Muskies for the eighth and final spot in the tourney.

Black Out Cancer: Lakeland is participating in the Black Out Cancer initiative for the second straight year. The Muskies will be wearing black shirts for warmups and are selling a number of colored ribbons in the Wehr Center lobby, with the colors-as well as the all-encompassing black-representing many different forms of cancer. Proceeds will benefit the Breast Friend Cancer Foundation, which was founded in 1999 by Lakeland women's basketball alum Becky (Gibula) Tagel, who also was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and will hit her official remission date this year.