DE PERE, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's basketball team gave St. Norbert College all it could handle for 40 minutes, challenging the top seed on the road before falling 58-52 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night at SNC's Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The eighth-seeded Muskies traded blows with the NACC regular season co-champions throughout before finally succumbing after a determined effort. Lakeland saw its season end with a 12-14 record while St. Norbert (21-4 overall) advanced to a semifinal game Thursday night, where it will host No. 5 Benedictine University after the Eagles ousted No. 4 Aurora University 82-72 in overtime Tuesday.

The Muskies fell to the Green Knights by an 89-67 score in De Pere less than three weeks earlier, but this time the teams combined for 12 ties and four lead changes and the squads were separated by no more than four points for almost the entire second half. The teams were separated by single digits for virtually the entire night; the game's biggest lead came early in the second quarter when St. Norbert took a 20-10 advantage, but the Muskies answered with a 13-2 run over the next eight minutes and the game was back-and-forth from there.

The Green Knights held slim leads of 24-23 at halftime and 39-38 after three quarters, the later after a driving layup by Marnie Kahl just before the buzzer. St. Norbert briefly went ahead by three after another layup by Kahl seconds in to the fourth quarter, but Lakeland answered with consecutive three-pointers by Jenna Caterino (Sr.-Stanton, Mich.) and Alexis Johnson (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.), the latter putting the Muskies up 44-43 with 9:06 left in the game.

The Muskies would have chances to extend the lead, but both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes until SNC's Taylor Thiry made two free throws for a 45-44 lead with 6:21 left. Lakeland would not lead again, though it was still a one-point game until Macey Mercer made a jumper with 3:47 to play to make it 47-44.

Lauryn Johnson (Jr.-Kenosha, Wis.) split two free throws to get the Muskies within 47-45, but the Green Knights finally gained some breathing room by scoring on their next two possessions. Mercer and Thiry scored inside, including Thiry's bucket making it 51-45 with 2:13 left. Halle Boldt (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) answered with a hard-earned basket inside to cut the Green Knights' lead to four, but Emma Morrissey hit a three-pointer late in the shot clock with 42 seconds left to give St. Norbert a 54-47 lead.

Bolt made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left but Thiry also converted two to keep it a seven-point game. Peyton Madl (Fr.-New Lenox, Ill.) came off the bench to hit a three-pointer with 5.2 seconds remaining, but Mercer made two more free throws for the game's final margin.

The Muskies weathered a tough finish to the first quarter to take their first lead of the game late in the second quarter, and would lead a good portion of the third quarter.

Lakeland scored seven straight points early in the third, taking its biggest lead at 30-26 by A.T. Bartlett (Jr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) with 6:18 left in the period. The teams would swap the lead eight times in the quarter, with Lakeland retaking the lead on two free throws by Meghan MacPhee (So.-Marquette, Mich.) with 31 seconds left before Kahl's hoop as time expired in the period.

In a halfcourt game against the physical Green Knights, Lakeland held its own, outrebounding SNC 32-30 and also holding St. Norbert to 43.1% shooting for the game (22 of 51), below the Green Knights' NACC-leading season average of 48.3% coming in.

Bartlett led the Muskies with 15 points plus seven rebounds, including 12 points in the first half. Boldt scored 12 points and Alexis Johnson added 11 points. The Muskies shot 16 of 44 (36.4%), including 6 of 14 from three-point range plus 14 of 18 (77.8%) from the free throw line.

Thiry finished scoring 19 points, making 7 of 17 shots from the field. Mercer added 12 points and Kahl scored seven points off the bench.

The game was the final one for four Lakeland seniors, including Boldt, Caterino, Meryam Belbaz (Skokie, Ill.) and Gabbi Glatczak (Milwaukee, Wis.).