APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team took control in the second half on Saturday and went on to a 56-53 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College at Alexander Gymnasium.
Amber Lisowe paced Lawrence (2-17, 1-13 MWC) and all scorers with 19 points, and she also pulled down seven rebounds and had a critical steal in the final seconds. Cathy Kaye scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half for the Vikings.
Jill Friedrich led the Lady Blues (6-13, 4-10) with 12 points, and Hannah McGinnis added 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Vikings shot 46.2 percent from the floor in the second half and limited Illinois College to just 29.5 percent shooting after the break.
Illinois College led 30-25 early in the second half, but Lawrence rallied to grab a nine-point edge. The Vikings went on a 16-2 run from that point to grab a 42-31 advantage with 10:27 left in the game. Kaye scored nine points for Lawrence during that stretch.
Illinois College came right back and scored the game’s next eight points to trim the lead to 42-40. Lawrence then bounced back and scored six consecutive points to push the lead back to 48-40 with 5:35 remaining.
The Lady Blues chipped away at the lead and cut the advantage to 52-50 with 50 seconds left. Illinois College was then forced into a situation where it had to foul and sent Lisowe to the line with 17 seconds left. She hit both free throws for a 54-50 Lawrence lead.
Holly Wohltman hit a 3-pointer for Illinois College to cut the lead back to 54-53 with 13 seconds left. The Lady Blues then fouled Kaye, who hit one free throw with nine seconds left.
After Kaye missed the second free throw, Friedrich’s outlet pass was picked off by Lisowe, and the Lady Blues fouled Patsy Kealey with 1.7 seconds left. She made the first free throw and missed the second, but Katie Schumacher grabbed the rebound for Lawrence to end the game.
Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Beloit College.