APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team endured a frigid afternoon of shooting and dropped a 65-51 nonconference decision to Finlandia University on Thursday at Alexander Gymnasium.
The Vikings (3-6) hit on just 23.6 percent (17-72) of their shots from the floor, including 12.5 percent (2-16) from 3-point range. Finlandia (4-9) won the game from beyond the arc by hitting on 42.3 percent (11-26) of its 3-point attempts.
Hailey Gervais came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points for Finlandia. Brierra Ruska added 15 points for Finlandia and was 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. Marissa Burke had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Lions.
Andrea Wilkinson scored a team-high 13 points for Lawrence, and Alex Deshler had a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Deshler was just three assists shy of a triple-double with a team-high seven assists.
Lawrence led by as many as six points in the first five minutes of the game, but Finlandia quickly erased that advantage and went on to lead by as man as seven points at 22-15. The Vikings went on a 10-2 run, with six points coming from Deshler, to take its final lead of the game at 25-24 with 1:20 left in the opening half.
Finlandia then scored the final six points of the half and led 30-25 at the break. Paige Yoho then scored the first eight points of the second half, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers, to give the Lions a 38-28 lead.
Finlandia built the lead to as many as 17 points, and Lawrence never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Lawrence returns to Midwest Conference action on Saturday when it travels to league leader St. Norbert College on Saturday.