APPLETON, Wis. — The Monmouth College women’s basketball team held off a scrappy Lawrence University squad on Saturday and posted a 68-46 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.
Paige Nord and Kaley Corban led Monmouth with 12 points apiece, and Marla Willard added 10 points for the Scots (14-4, 10-3 MWC).
Alex Deshler led Lawrence (3-14, 1-11) and all scorers with 18 points, and Katie Schumacher pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the Vikings.
The Scots had pulled out to a 25-14 lead late in the first half before the Vikings rallied. Lawrence ripped off nine consecutive points, started by Deshler’s 3-pointer and capped by a pair of Patsy Kealey free throws with 2:18 left, to cut the lead to 25-23.
Kim Coleman’s jumper stopped the run for Monmouth, and the Scots led 31-25 at the break.
Monmouth slowly stretched the lead to 46-31 at the 11:43 mark of the second half, but another Deshler 3-point prompted another short scoring run. The Vikings got a jumper from Courtney Schmidt and a fastbreak layup from Kealey to cut the lead to 48-38 with 8:42 remaining.
Monmouth took a timeout and then finally pulled away. The Scots went on a 13-3 run to grab a 61-41 lead with 5:25 left. Lawrence didn’t get closer than 19 points the rest of the way.