Women's Basketball goes cold in home loss to Wisconsin Lutheran

MEQUON, Wis. – It was a battle of the top two teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and neither team shot well on Wednesday night, but it was Wisconsin Lutheran College who earned a 51-40 victory over Concordia University Wisconsin.

Over the past several years both programs have dominated the NACC and it was again a battle inside the R. John Buuck Field House. The Warriors pulled out a difficult game for the fans to watch as they shot 29.3 percent (12-of-41), compared to the Falcons dismal 30.5 percent (18-of-59) from the field.

"I give a lot of credit to WLC for playing a hard-fought game," head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones said. "WLC is a difficult opponent and every time we play them it is never easy."

CUW (16-3, 12-2 NACC) had its chances to take over the game, but shot a season-low 3-of-15 (20 percent) at the charity stripe. The Falcons were also outrebounded 51-30 and had two players foul out of the game. They were also 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) from downtown.

"Tonight was not the game for us to lose our shooting touch," Brunner-Jones said. ""We missed far too many easy layups, and what was even worse was our free shooting. This team has several players who need to find a way to play better when the spotlight is on. We will regroup and play stronger over the final six NACC games on our schedule."

Both teams exchanged leads early in the opening half, before WLC made a layup and led for the next 36 minutes and 40 seconds of the anticipated NACC showdown. The Warriors lead touched double-figures for less than a minute in the first half, before they made four free throws in the closing seconds to separate themselves.

The lone bright spot for the Falcons was their nine turnovers and 26-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Senior Camille Parsons (Urbana, Ill.) had a team-high eight points and three assists, while senior Katie Luethe (Oshkosh, Wis.) hauled in a team-best nine rebounds. Sophomore Madelyn Landgraf (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) and freshman Jessica House (Oneida, Wis.) each had seven points off the bench.

Kristen Schulz dominated the paint for WLC with 10 points, game-high 14 rebounds and five blocks. Brittanny Bahr and Melissa Klemm each had 11 points, respectively. Melanie Laete also pulled down 10 rebounds.

CUW returns to action on Saturday with the second part of a doubleheader at Aurora University starting at 5:15 p.m.