The Muskies and Eagles have had a largely even series over the years, including last season when the teams split two meetings. Lakeland won the first time the teams met in 2024-25 with a 69-56 win at home Dec. 4, 2024, but Benedictine came back to dominate in an 82-46 win on its homecourt in Lisle, Ill., on Feb. 1, 2025. The series dates back to Jan. 9, 1988, when the Eagles posted a 67-57 win at Lakeland. Benedictine won the first six meetings before the Muskies' first victory, a 55-42 win at home Jan. 26, 2008.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Edgewood 66-62 Wednesday
The Muskies earned their best win of the season so far, handing the Eagles their first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference loss in five games. Lakeland almost to entire way and was ahead by 17 points with just over seven minutes left, but Edgewood closed to within a point with 1:30 left before A.T. Bartlett hit a three-pointer to push the lead back to four and for what turned out to be the game's final points. Jiaryatou Cisse came off the bench to post Lakeland career highs with 10 points and 13 rebounds in just 15 minutes of play, Alexis Johnson scored 15 points and added eight rebounds, five assists and five steals, and Bartlett also scored 12 points. The Muskies extended their win streak to five games and also won for the first time this season at home after posting their first four victories all on the road.

Benedictine last time out: Lost at Concordia Wisconsin 70-62 Wednesday
The Eagles were defeated on the road in Mequon as the Falcons turned momentum in a close game with a run to close out the third quarter. Concordia led by one with just over four minutes remaining in the third but closed the period on a 13-3 run to take a 48-37 lead after three quarters. Benedictine bounced back to score 25 points in the fourth quarter but it was not enough as the Eagles lost for the second time in NACC play and dropped to 9-4 overall. Makenzie Carroll scored 16 points off the bench to lead Benedictine and Allison Jarvis added 14 points and six rebounds, but CUW shot 51% from the field in posting its second win in conference play.

About the Eagles: Benedictine has started the season off strong, winning seven of nine games in non-conference play including the title at Buena Vista University's Central Bank Classic four-team tourney back in November. The Eagles had won five of six games before losing to Concordia Wisconsin on Wednesday. Benedictine finished 15-12 overall last year and 10-6 in the NACC, and was one of the hotter teams in the conference at the end of the season, defeating Aurora in the conference tournament quarterfinals before falling to top seed St. Norbert in the semifinals.

Black Out Cancer: Lakeland is participating in the Black Out Cancer initiative for the third 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 Colorectal Cancer Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending colorectal cancer within our lifetime.