Women’s Basketball earns NAC Tournament victory

Box Score: CUW 56, LC 44

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- Lakeland College had defeated Concordia University Wisconsin twice during the regular season, but the Falcons turned the tables in the NAC Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday night with a satisfying 56-44 win in Woltzen Gymnasium.

This time head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones' team worked hard for a 28-23 halftime margin and led the rest of the way in the process of ending the Muskies' fine season at 18-8.

Senior Kendall Kerns (Stoughton, Wis.) helped make sure her career did not end on this particular evening with the game's only double-double, 21 points and 14 rebounds. Concordia dominated Lakeland by a huge 48-26 margin on the glass last night after being outrebounded in the most recent meeting between the two teams.

CUW will travel to top seeded Wisconsin Lutheran College for a Friday evening matchup at 7 p.m. in one NAC Tournament semi-final. Dominican and MSOE clash in the other. WLC won the regular season NAC North championship and defeated the Falcons twice (70-60 and 64-58) during the regular season.

Last night's game was still up for grabs when LC got within 42-39 with less than six minutes to play. That's when junior Brittany Zietlow (Oak Creek, Wis.) took center stage. "Z" hit a huge 3-pointer to make it 45-39 with 5:11 left to play and buried another triple with 3:42 remaining to build the CUW lead to 50-39.

The final 56-44 margin was built as the Muskies players fouled down the stretch in a desperate attempt to get back into the game.

"Matching their (Lakeland's) physicality was very important. We turned the ball over too much, but they had to earn every point they scored. I'm proud of our effort and the result," said a smiling Coach Brunner-Jones.