PLYMOUTH, Wis. – A dominant first half on the defensive end helped the Lakeland University women's basketball team build a big lead and spurred the Muskies to a 69-59 victory over Dominican University Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

Lakeland held the Stars to 11 first half points in building a 22-point halftime lead, which provided plenty of cushion to absorb a Dominican comeback late. The Muskies picked up a key Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win while playing in front of a solid crowd of program alums on Alumni Day, and also wrapped up a season sweep of the Stars in improving to 10-12 overall and 7-7 in conference.

Winners by just one point in sneaking past Dominican 48-47 in the teams' first meeting of the season just over a month ago, Lakeland jumped on the Stars in the first half this time, holding the visitors to 15.4% shooting in the first half and just four made field goals in 26 attempts. Dominican (10-11 overall, 4-8 NACC) committed more turnovers (15) than points scored in the first 20 minutes.

The Muskies led 10-1 after a layup by Jiaryatou Cisse (Jr.-Harrison, Mich.) in the opening minutes and led 17-3 after one period. Lakeland pushed the lead to 28-7 with 3:38 left in the second quarter after a reverse layup by Jenna Shea (Jr.-Appleton, Wis.) and went into halftime with a 33-11 lead, its largest lead at the break this season and a season low for points allowed in a half.

Lakeland would maintain a double-digit lead almost the entire second half despite the Stars heating up considerably after halftime. Dominican shot 60% (18 of 30) in the second half, including 8 of 10 from three-point range. The Stars scored 31 points in the fourth quarter and 48 in the second half total, getting as close as eight points late when Danielle Washington's three-pointer made it 64-56 with 1:13 left. Madelyn Abler (Fr.-Random Lake, Wis.) and A.T. Bartlett (Sr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) both made two free throws each and Alexis Johnson (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) added one more free throw with 14 seconds left to ice the win.

Johnson scored 18 points on her birthday, making 7 of 15 shots from the field, including 5 of 8 in scoring 11 points in the second half. Sadie Grabow (So.-Bourbonnais, Ill.) also scored 12 points and Lauryn Johnson (Sr.-Kenosha, Wis.) added 11 points, including Lauryn Johnson with nine in the second half and Grabow with eight as the three combined for 28 of Lakeland's 36 second-half points.

Shea also scored eight points, all in the first half, including two three-pointers, and Sydney Nimsakont (So.-Glendale Heights, Ill.) also scored eight points. Lauryn Johnson paced the team with seven rebounds and added four assists and Bartlett finished with four assists plus five steals.

Kennedy Yost led Dominican with 12 points plus nine rebounds and Eva Herbig added 11 points. The Stars finished shooting 39.3% (22 of 56) but committed 24 turnovers to Lakeland's 15, and the Muskies finished with a huge 29-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

Lakeland goes on the road for its next game Wednesday when it takes on St. Norbert College at 7 p.m. in De Pere.