APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team returns to Midwest Conference play on Saturday when the Vikings face high-scoring Grinnell College. The Pioneers are averaging 107 points per game, but they face a Lawrence team that has won two in a row and four of its last five. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Alexander Gymnasium.
Author: Joseph Vanden Acker
Big third quarter leads Cardinals past Lawrence
APPLETON, Wis. — A big third quarter led the St. Mary’s (Minn.) University women’s basketball team to a 73-49 non-conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Haley Trom came off the bench to lead the Cardinals (9-1) with 15 points, and Micaela Meredith posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Lawrence’s Fanita Robins came off the bench to record her second double-figure scoring game of the season with 10 points. Nicole Cummins added nine points for the Vikings (0-9) as she went 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Liz Arco picked up six points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals for Lawrence.
St. Mary’s led 31-20 at the half, and the Cardinals were up 12 when they went on a run midway through the third period. St. Mary’s got back-to-back 3-pointers from Alexa Huisman as part of an 11-0 run to take a 46-22 lead.
The Cardinals later connected on four of five shots in one stretch to push their lead to 58-30. St. Mary’s, which outscored Lawrence 27-12 in the third period, would lead 58-32 after three.
Lawrence never got closer than 20 points in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals got off to a fast start and led 19-6 after the first quarter, but Lawrence battled back in the second. The Vikings went on a 12-3 run to start the quarter as Cummins hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Arco, Aubrey Scott and Sammi Jo Nixon all picked up baskets during that stretch.
Lawrence trimmed the lead to 22-18 after a Cummins 3-pointer, but the Cardinals responded with seven consecutive points and would lead 31-20 at the half.
Lawrence returns to Midwest Conference action on Saturday when the Vikings host Grinnell College.
Nikitas posts double-double as Lawrence downs Raptors
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team got on top early Sunday and went on to a 68-55 non-conference win over Bard College at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Senior guard Jamie Nikitas posted a double-double with game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Lawrence (5-4) to the victory at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez.
Jeremy Stephani added 15 points, Mitch Willer had 10 and Ben Peterson chipped in with eight for the Vikings.
DeVahnte Mosley paced Bard (3-6), a NCAA Division III school in New York, with 19 points.
Bard made the first basket of the game, but Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to grab a 3-2 lead and never trailed again. That was part of a 9-0 run as the Vikings built an early 9-2 edge.
Lawrence followed with a 19-11 outburst to push the lead to 28-13 late in the first half. Bard battled back to cut the margin to 35-24 at the break.
The Vikings held a double-digit advantage until the Raptors went on a scoring run to trim the lead to 41-33 at the 13-minute mark. Lawrence responded with an 11-2 run to take a 52-35 advantage. Nikitas scored six points during the outburst, which was capped by a Stephani 3-pointer. Bard never closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Lawrence finished the Puerto Rico Classic with a 2-0 record, and the Vikings now take a break for the holidays. Lawrence returns to action and Midwest Conference play when it hosts Grinnell College on Jan. 2.
Ice-cold Vikings fall to Alma
HOLLAND, Mich. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team shot just 20 percent from the floor Saturday and fell 76-30 to Alma College in a non-conference game at the Post Exam Jam.
The Vikings hit just 11-of-53 shots (20.8 percent) from the floor, including 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
Kassidy Blough led Alma (3-5) with 17 points, and Raeanna Zink came off the bench to post a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Natalie Kramer paced Lawrence (0-8) with 10 points, and Andrea Wilkinson added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Lawrence, which committed 32 turnovers, got off to an incredibly slow start for the second straight night. Alma jumped out to a 20-2 lead after the first quarter, and the Scots would go on to lead 45-13 at the half.
The Scots would lead by as many as 48 points in the fourth quarter.
Vikings win defensive struggle with Randolph
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team limited Randoph College to just 24 percent shooting Saturday in a 43-40 non-conference victory at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Jamie Nikitas led Lawrence (4-4) and all scorers with 17 points and picked up eight rebounds. Jeremy Stephani added 13 points for the Vikings, and Ben Peterson grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
Josh Freund led Randolph, a school in Lynchburg, Va., with a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Randolph (7-2) shot just 15-of-62 (24.2 percent) from the floor for the game, and the Wild Cats hit 2-of-14 (14.2 percent) from 3-point range. Lawrence shot only 32.7 percent from the floor, including 24.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The game was tight throughout, although Lawrence built the biggest lead by either team at 16-8 on Pete Winslow’s layup midway through the first half. Lawrence was held to just two points for the rest of the first half, and the Wild Cats trimmed the margin to 18-17 at the break.
In a game that featured 10 lead changes and four ties, Randolph took its biggest lead of the game at 25-23 on a pair of Zach Desgain free throws. The teams then traded the lead before the Vikings grabbed the advantage for good at 35-33 on Nikitas’ three-point play.
The Vikings built the advantage to five points after Stephani followed with a 3-pointer. Lawrence was unable to pull away, but the Vikings were up 43-38 after a Troy Miller free throw.
Freund’s jumper cut the margin to 43-40, but the Wild Cats missed their final four shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final seconds that would have tied it.
Lawrence wraps up its trip to Puerto Rico when it takes on Bard College on Sunday.
Fourth-ranked Hope takes down Vikings
HOLLAND, Mich. — The fourth-ranked Hope College women’s basketball team jumped out to a huge early lead Friday and cruised to a 91-43 non-conference win over Lawrence University at the Post Exam Jam Tournament.
The Flying Dutch (7-0) rolled to a 31-4 lead after the first quarter and had expanded that advantage to 51-15 at the half. Hope would go on to lead by as many as 56 points in the final quarter.
Maura McAfee led six Hope players in double figures with 16 points. Francesca Buchanan posted a double-double for the Dutch with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Olivia Hoesley led Lawrence (0-7) with 10 points. Liz Arco added six points, pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and piled up six blocks.
Lawrence takes on Alma College in the final game of the tournament on Saturday.
Witter, Zheng post wins at Fun In The Sun Classic
VENICE, Fla. — Paige Witter and Emmi Zheng both won events for the Lawrence University swim team as it took on Urbana University on Wednesday at the Venice Fun In The Sun Classic.
In the sprint-meet format, Urbana edged the Lawrence women 55.5-51.5. Urbana topped the Lawrence men 60-32.
Witter won the 100-yard individual medley in 1:06.82, and Zheng took the top spot in the 50 breaststroke in 33.88 seconds. Zheng teamed with Danielle Millin, Eryn Blagg and Sarah Schweickart to take second in the 200 medley relay in 2:02.05. Emily Flack grabbed second in the 50 backstroke for the Vikings in 30.40 seconds.
The Lawrence men won the 200-yard medley relay as the team of Kaleb Cooperman, Jordan Spalding, Max Stahl and Travis Charlow took the top spot in 2:03.16. Cooperman also took second in the 50 freestyle in 23.64 seconds, and Stahl was second in the 50 backstroke in 27.41 seconds.
Both soccer teams honored for academic achievement by NSCAA
APPLETON, Wis. — Both Lawrence University soccer teams have again been honored for academic excellence by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Both squads won the Team Academic Award for having a cumulative grade point average higher than 3.0 during the 2014-15 academic year.
This marks the 12th consecutive year that both Lawrence teams have earned the award. This is the 15th time since 2000 that the Lawrence women have captured the award, and it is the 14th time for the Lawrence men during the same period. Lawrence was one of just two Midwest Conference schools to have both of its teams make the cut.
The Lawrence women, coached by Lisa Sammons, posted a 3.50 grade point average last year. The Lawrence men, led by long-time coach Blake Johnson, had a 3.27 GPA.
The Lawrence women had 13 players selected for the Academic All-Midwest Conference team in 2014-15, and the men had 11 players chosen.
Late run lifts Cougars past Lawrence
APPLETON, Wis. — The Concordia University Chicago women’s basketball team scored six consecutive points in a stretch of 38 seconds in the final minutes Wednesday and went on to pull out a 68-57 non-conference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lauren Orr paced Concordia (3-3) with 18 points, and Courtney Lofink added 12 points and five assists for the Cougars.
Patsy Kealey and Andrea Wilkinson both posted double-doubles for the Vikings (0-6), who were playing without top scorer Liz Arco.
Kealey finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the floor to go with 11 rebounds. Wilkinson had 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to go with five assists, three blocks and two steals. Aubrey Scott added eight points and seven rebounds for the Vikings.
Lawrence battled back from a six-point halftime deficit in the third quarter to lead by five points in the period. The Vikings opened the period with an 8-1 run, capped by back-to-back layups from freshman Sammi Jo Nixon, to take a 28-27 lead with 6:42 left in the quarter.
The Vikings were up one when a layup from Kealey and free throws from Wilkinson and Kealey gave Lawrence a 43-38 edge with 31 seconds left. Orr hit a jumper to cut the lead to 43-40 after three quarters.
The teams traded the lead in the fourth quarter, but the vikings were up 52-51 after Kealey’s jumper with 4:36 remaining. Taylor Jacobsen hit a 3-pointer for the Cougars, and Sheyla Kahalehoe followed with a layup to give Concordia a 56-52 edge.
Kealey hit another jumper to trim the margin to 56-54, but the Cougars then put on the decisive spurt. Orr hit a 3-pointer and Erin Jacobsen scored the next three points to stretch the margin to 62-54 with 1:53 left. The Cougars then hit five of their next six free throws to seal the victory.
Turnovers and missed free throws really hurt the Vikings. Against the Cougars’ pressing defense, Lawrence turned the ball over a season-high 35 times. Concordia was whistled for 26 fouls, but the Vikings were unable to take advantage of that. Lawrence went just 16-of-35 from the foul line.
Cardinal swims to third MWC honor of the season
APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University star Hayley Cardinal captured Midwest Conference Swimmer of the Week honors for the third time this season.
Cardinal (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) was chosen for the weekly honor after winning a pair of events in Lawrence’s 139-98 win over UW-Oshkosh on Dec. 11.
Cardinal posted the Midwest Conference’s top time in winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:04.78 and narrowly missed breaking her own school record. Cardinal also swam to first in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:12.57, which is the top time in the conference and just .07 seconds from her own Lawrence record.
Cardinal also teamed with Emily Flack, Paige Witter and Lizzy Garcia to win the 200 medley relay in 1:52.86.
Cardinal also won Swimmer of the Week honors earlier this season on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.
Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it takes on Urbana University in Venice, Fla.