APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team held Maranatha Baptist University to just 15 second-half points as the Vikings rolled to a 73-39 nonconference victory Monday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
Andrea Wilkinson scored 14 points, and Danelle Buck added 13 for the Vikings (1-20), who snapped a 37-game losing streak. It was Lawrence’s first victory since a 93-92 win at Knox College on Dec. 14, 2013.
Lexi Johnson led Maranatha Baptist (2-17) with 16 points, and Emily Hinsenkamp pulled down 11 rebounds for the Sabercats. Maranatha shot just 6-for-19 (31.6 percent) from the floor in the second half.
Lawrence led 32-24 at the half, but the Vikings stretched the advantage early in the second half. The Vikings got a spark from Kassidy Rinehart, Nicole Cummins and Fanita Robins off the bench, and Lawrence went on a 9-2 burst to start the half. Wilkinson’s layup with 14:39 left gave Lawrence a 41-27 edge.
Lawrence still up by 14 at 47-33 when the Vikings put the game away. Robins hit a 3-pointer to start a 10-1 run, capped by Lauren Deveikis’ short jumper, that gave Lawrence a 57-34 lead with 5:46 remaining.
The Vikings would pull away and led by as many as 34 points.
Lawrence employed a full-court press in the second half as Maranatha committed 36 turnovers, including 19 after the break. Patsy Kealey picked up a season-high seven steals for the Vikings, who had a season-low 13 turnovers.
The Vikings got off to a slow start and hit just three of their first 18 shots from the floor. Maranatha led 14-9 with 7:12 remaining, but Lawrence went 9-for-12 from the floor from that point in the opening half.
Lawrence finished the first half on a 23-10 scoring run to grab a 32-24 lead at the break. Wilkinson had 10 points during that stretch, and Rinehart scored six of her nine points in that run.