Third-quarter surge pushes Beloit past Lawrence

APPLETON, Wis. — The Beloit College women’s basketball team pulled away in the third quarter Saturday and went on to a 64-40 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.

The Bucs started to pull away late in the second quarter and then outscored Lawrence 13-5 in the third quarter to build a 43-21 advantage.

Melissa McLean scored 17 points off the bench and grabbed eight rebounds to pace Beloit (6-13, 4-10 MWC).

Natalie Kramer led Lawrence (2-17, 0-14) with 13 points, and Olivia Hoesley and Lauren Deveikis added seven points apiece. Hoesley and Shonell Benjamin paced the Vikings with seven rebounds apiece.

Lawrence trailed by eight late in the second quarter, but the Bucs scored the final six points of the first half to grab a 30-16 lead at the break. The Vikings then went just 2-for-11 from the floor and committed five turnovers in the third quarter.

McLean scored five points in the third quarter for Beloit, and Nora Polaski and Shelby Kline added four points apiece. Kline finished with 16 points and Polaski added 12.

Beloit led by as many as 28 points early in the fourth quarter, but the Vikings put together a 10-3 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Kramer and Deveikis, to close to 56-36. That’s as close as Lawrence would get.

Box score