PLYMOUTH, Wis. – A close game for more than a half again fell away late as the Lakeland University women's basketball team was defeated by St. Norbert College 79-51 Saturday in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies trailed by just seven points late in the third quarter before the visiting Green Knights finished the game on a 29-8 run. Lakeland dropped to 1-7 overall and 1-2 in NACC plays with its second straight loss to one of the conference's top teams last year.

St. Norbert (3-3 overall, 2-0 NACC) won the conference regular season title last year, but the Muskies gave the Green Knights fits in a six-point NACC Tournament quarterfinal loss in February. Lakeland also again gave SNC trouble most of the way Saturday, including cutting a 14-point third quarter lead down to six points, and still trailing just 50-43 after Lydia Levra (So.-Elk Mound, Wis.) made a three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining in the period.

The Muskies would make just three more field goals the rest of the game, though, missing 16 of their final 19 shots, and also struggled on the other end as St. Norbert made 12 of its final 17 shots. The Green Knights finished the third quarter with the final eight points to lead 58-43 after three periods, and extended the run to 13-0 before a layup by Alexis Johnson (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) to cut the SNC margin to 63-45 with 7:34 left. Lakeland would get no closer the rest of the way.

Lakeland led twice in the game's early stages and staged the game's fifth tie when Sydney Nimsakont (So.-Glendale Heights, Ill.) scored to knot the game at 10-10 with 4:13 left in the first quarter. St. Norbert answered with the next 10 points, but Sadie Grabow (So.-Bourbonnais, Ill.) scored on a putback just before the buzzer to make SNC's lead 20-12 after one quarter.

The Muskies continued creeping closer, getting within 22-18 after a three by Madeline Sasis (Fr.-Huntley, Ill.) with 5:16 left in the half. The Green Knights pushed back out to a 36-26 halftime lead, then scored the first four points of the second half before Lakeland rallied back as close as six at 44-38 after Nimsakont hit a three with 3:39 left in the third quarter.

The Muskies finished shooting 27.5%, making 19 of 69 shots, including 8 of 37 from three-point range (21.6%). Johnson scored 11 points, A.T. Bartlett (Sr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) added eight points plus team highs with eight rebounds and three assists and Levra scored six points with a pair of three-pointers. Lauryn Johnson (Sr.-Kenosha, Wis.) also added six points and six rebounds.

St. Norbert finished shooting 49.2% (32 of 65) led by Taylor Thiry with 27 points and eight rebounds. Rose Hahn also scored 15 points and the Green Knights did much of their damage inside, outscoring Lakeland in the paint 56-22.

The Muskies make a trip to Minnesota this week for two non-conference games, first taking on Martin Luther College Wednesday at 7 p.m. in New Ulm, Minn., before traveling to take on Crown College on Friday at 2 p.m. in St. Bonifacius, Minn.