MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team played a strong second half and cruised to a 78-44 nonconference victory over Mount Mary University on Friday at the Bloechl Center.
Kassidy Rinehart had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Lawrence (1-1). Rinehart also had six assists and six steals. Freshman guard Kanae Nishitani had a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists, which was just two shy of tying the Lawrence game record.
It also was the first coaching victory for Lawrence coach Ashley Wellman, who is in her rookie season with the Vikings.
Katie Schumacher and Alex Deshler added 13 points apiece for the Vikings.
Taylor Baumgart scored 18 points and Ashley Leverenz added 14 points to pace Mount Mary (0-3).
Lawrence led 12-10 midway through the first half when the Vikings scored seven consecutive points, capped by a Rinehart free throw, to take a 19-10 edge with 7:35 left.
The Vikings would go on to lead 30-23 at the break, but Mount Mary scored the first six points of the second half to cut the lead to 30-29 at the 18:41 mark.
Lawrence led 34-33 when the Vikings went on a 17-6 run to take command. Rinehart scored six points and Andrea Wilkinson had five during the run that gave Lawrence a 51-39 lead with 10:06 left.
The Vikings then went on a 23-2 run to finish the game as Lawrence held the Blue Angels without a field goal over the final 7:48.
Lawrence held Mount Mary to just 25.9 percent shooting (7-27) in the second half while the Vikings shot 50 percent (19-38) from the floor after the break.
Lawrence returns to action on Dec. 4 when it hosts Carroll University in the Midwest Conference opener.