DE PERE, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team had one of its better shooting nights of the season but St. Norbert College was even better in defeating the Muskies 89-67 Wednesday night in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.

Lakeland shot 47.1%, easily its best performance in defeat this year and the best mark of any team against the Green Knights this season. St. Norbert countered with a school-record 66.1% shooting night, though, and the Muskies dropped to 10-12 overall and 7-6 in the NACC with three regular season games to play.

NACC co-leader St. Norbert (17-4 overall, 12-1 NACC) made 37 of 56 shots in the game, shooting well over 60% in both halves. Lakeland hung with the Green Knights' and their torrid pace for more than a half but lost contact in the second half as the hosts never cooled off.

The Muskies battled back from an early eight-point deficit to close within 24-20 after one quarter and took the lead when A.T. Bartlett (Jr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) converted a three-point play to make it 27-26 early in the second. SNC answered with a 17-2 run to break out to a 43-29 lead late in the first half, but Lakeland fought back again and was within six after a Jenna Caterino (Sr.-Stanton, Mich.) layup before Taylor Thiry scored at the buzzer to give St. Norbert a 46-38 halftime lead.

The Muskies briefly got within seven on two occasions early in the third quarter, after Sadie Grabow (Fr.-Bourbonnais, Ill.) hit a three-pointer and again when Lauryn Johnson (Jr.-Kenosha, Wis.) scored inside to make it 50-43. St. Norbert scored the next seven points, though, and Lakeland never got closer than 11 points again. The Green Knights led 67-50 after three quarters, and after the Muskies got within 13 early in the fourth quarter the hosts pulled away with their fourth straight 20-plus point quarter.

Bartlett scored 16 points, including hitting three three-pointers, and added four steals. Halle Boldt (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) scored 13 points, Caterino added 11 points and Alexis Johnson (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) chipped in nine points off the bench. The Muskies made 24 of 51 shots from the field, including 7 of 21 from three-point range (33.3%).

Thiry scored 19 points and added 10 rebounds to lead St. Norbert and was one of five to score in double figures. The Green Knights scored 52 of their points in the paint and also outrebounded Lakeland 32-18.

Lakeland goes on the road Saturday to face Illinois Tech for a 3:15 p.m. start in Chicago. The Muskies lead the Scarlet Hawks by 2 1/2 games for eighth place in the NACC and can clinch a spot in the eight-team NACC Tournament with a win.