Women’s Basketball

Category: Women’s Basketball

Carr resigns from women’s basketball coaching post

APPLETON, Wis. — Tara Carr has resigned as the head women’s basketball coach at Lawrence University, Director of Athletics Mike Szkodzinski announced today.

Carr, who was hired as the ninth coach in the program’s history on April 11, 2011, coached the Vikings for two seasons.

“We want to wish Tara well in her future endeavors,” Szkodzinski said. “Our focus will be to move the women’s basketball program forward. Given the rich tradition of women’s basketball at Lawrence, we want to restore the program to a more competitive status as quickly as we can.”

A national search for a successor will be launched immediately, according to Szkodzinski.

Carr, a 1999 graduate of Bowling Green State University, was in her first stint as a head coach. Lawrence compiled a record of 3-43 during Carr’s two seasons.

Lawrence has enjoyed a history of success, including three conference championships and a NCAA Division III Tournament appearance, in its 37 seasons of women’s basketball. The Vikings have posted 23 seasons of .500 or better, but Lawrence has struggled in recent campaigns.

Lawrence finished with a 2-21 mark this season with a 1-17 record in Midwest Conference play.

Lawrence’s second-half comeback falls short against Grinnell

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team scored a season-high 53 points in the second half on Saturday, but the Vikings couldn’t reel in Grinnell College, and the Pioneers hung on for a 79-68 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.

In the season finale for both teams, Alissa Hirsh paced Grinnell (11-12, 9-9 MWC) with 21 points and five assists. Michelle Briggs had a double-double for Grinnell with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Amber Lisowe led Lawrence (2-21, 1-17) with 19 points and a game-high six assists. Alex Deshler added 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Vikings. Freshman Patsy Kealey chipped in with 13 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for Lawrence.

Grinnell pulled away late in the first half, using a 7-0 run to stretch its lead to 25-10 with 3:18 left in the first half. The Pioneers led 28-15 at the break and used some hot shooting early in the second half to push the advantage to 47-24 with 16:00 left.

The Vikings were still down 19 at 64-45 with just under six minutes left, but Lawrence went on a 10-3 run to cut the margin to 67-55 with 3:19 left. Deshler had five points during that run and Lisowe buried a 3-pointer.

Grinnell recovered but Lawrence trimmed the lead to nine on two different occasions, both after 3-pointers by Lisowe and Deshler. Grinnell went 9-for-10 from the foul line in the final 1:32 to seal the victory.

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Vikings battle hard but fall short at Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team took Lake Forest College to the limit on Tuesday, but the Foresters hung on for a 62-58 Midwest Conference victory.

Liz Radtke paced Lake Forest (12-10, 10-7 MWC) with 12 points and a game-high eight assists, and Michelle Ricolcol added 11 points.

Patsy Kealey scored a career-high 23 points and picked up her first double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds for Lawrence (2-20, 1-16). 

Kealey, whose previous career high of 16 points was last week against Beloit College, went 7-for-15 from the floor and was 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Amber Lisowe added 19 points and a team-best five assists for the Vikings. 

Lake Forest led 30-27 at the half, but Kealey tied it when she hit a 3-pointer to open the second half. The Vikings then grabbed a 32-30 lead on Cathy Kaye’s jumper.

Lake Forest took the lead back, and the Foresters built the lead to as many as 10 points before the Vikings rallied late. Kealey hit one free throw and Lisowe added two more to trim the lead to 61-54 with 1:58 left. After a Lake Forest miss, Lisowe followed with a 3-pointer and it was 61-57 with 1:11 remaining.

After a Lake Forest turnover, Kealey made one free throw with 35 seconds left to cut the margin to 61-58. The Vikings were forced to foul and Ricolcol missed the front end of the bonus with 14 seconds left.

Lawrence got an open layup on the other end but missed the shot. Lake Forest took possession, and Courtney Faulstick made one free throw with five seconds left to seal the win.

Lawrence wraps up its season on Saturday when it hosts Grinnell College.

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Vikings fall to No. 14 Cornell

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — Caitlyn Bisinger scored a game-high 18 points to lead the No. 14 Cornell College women’s basketball team to a 97-43 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday.

Bisinger led four Rams in double figures, including Chelsea Harris, who scored 14 points off the bench. Kathryn Schilling added 12 points and Taylor Dicus had 10 for Cornell (20-1, 15-1 MWC).

Freshman Patsy Kealey led the Vikings (2-19, 1-15) with 15 points. Amber Lisowe added 13 points for the Vikings, and Cathy Kaye had 10.

Lawrence led in the early going, and Cornell didn’t take its first lead of the game until a pair of Dicus free throws put the Rams up 18-17 with 11:08 left in the first half.

After Lisowe’s layup cut Cornell’s lead to 27-26 with 3:45 left before halftime, the Rams went on a run. Cornell went on a 15-2 run over the final 3:31 of the first half and led 42-28 at the break.

The Rams then scored the first 11 points of the second half to pull out to a 53-28 lead with 17:32 left. Lawrence never got closer than 20 points after that. 

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Beloit topples Lawrence

APPLETON, Wis. — The Beloit College women’s basketball team pulled away midway through the first half and went on to an 84-59 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Lana Wieseman led Beloit (4-16, 3-12 MWC) with 23 points and six rebounds. Wieseman went 9-for-10 from the floor and was 5-for-5 from the foul line. Lauren McNanna added 18 points and she was 8-for-8 from the foul line. Kandace Fox added 17 points and six rebounds for the Buccaneers.

Patsy Kealey came off the bench to lead Lawrence (2-18, 1-14) with 16 points. Alex Deshler added 14 points, and Katie Schumacher had a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings.

The game was tied 11-11 after Deshler’s jumper with 11:47 left in the first half, but the Bucs went on a 20-2 run over the seven minutes to pull away. Wieseman scored seven points during the outburst and Jenna Larsen added five points.

Larsen’s layup with 4:31 left gave Beloit a 31-13 lead, and the Bucs would lead 41-22 at the half.

Lawrence, which had 18 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 31, closed the margin to 17 points at 56-39 midway through the second half. Beloit then went on an 11-4 run to build the lead to 70-43 and would go on to lead by as many as 32 points.

Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when it travels to league leader Cornell College.

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Vikings take control in second half to down Illinois College

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team took control in the second half on Saturday and went on to a 56-53 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College at Alexander Gymnasium.

Amber Lisowe paced Lawrence (2-17, 1-13 MWC) and all scorers with 19 points, and she also pulled down seven rebounds and had a critical steal in the final seconds. Cathy Kaye scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half for the Vikings.

Jill Friedrich led the Lady Blues (6-13, 4-10) with 12 points, and Hannah McGinnis added 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Vikings shot 46.2 percent from the floor in the second half and limited Illinois College to just 29.5 percent shooting after the break.

Illinois College led 30-25 early in the second half, but Lawrence rallied to grab a nine-point edge. The Vikings went on a 16-2 run from that point to grab a 42-31 advantage with 10:27 left in the game. Kaye scored nine points for Lawrence during that stretch.

Illinois College came right back and scored the game’s next eight points to trim the lead to 42-40. Lawrence then bounced back and scored six consecutive points to push the lead back to 48-40 with 5:35 remaining.

The Lady Blues chipped away at the lead and cut the advantage to 52-50 with 50 seconds left. Illinois College was then forced into a situation where it had to foul and sent Lisowe to the line with 17 seconds left. She hit both free throws for a 54-50 Lawrence lead.

Holly Wohltman hit a 3-pointer for Illinois College to cut the lead back to 54-53 with 13 seconds left. The Lady Blues then fouled Kaye, who hit one free throw with nine seconds left.

After Kaye missed the second free throw, Friedrich’s outlet pass was picked off by Lisowe, and the Lady Blues fouled Patsy Kealey with 1.7 seconds left. She made the first free throw and missed the second, but Katie Schumacher grabbed the rebound for Lawrence to end the game.

Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Beloit College.

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Sharpshooting St. Norbert downs Vikings

DE PERE, Wis. — The St. Norbert College women’s basketball team broke out of its two-game shooting slump in a big way on Tuesday and rolled to an 87-31 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Schuldes Sports Center.

St. Norbert, losers of two straight in which they had hit just 1 of 33 3-point attempts, shot 56.5 percent from the floor and connected on 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

Megan Doody paced St. Norbert (13-6, 10-4 MWC) with 15 points as she went 5-for-5 on 3-pointers. Doody also added a game-high 10 assists. Morgan Heim also had 15 points for the Green Knights.

Amber Lisowe led Lawrence (1-17, 0-13) with eight points. The Vikings had a frigid shooting night and hit on only 11 of 51 (21.6 percent) shots from the floor. Lawrence went 0-for-13 from 3-point range.

St. Norbert grabbed control of the game early by racing to a 14-0 lead. Lawrence didn’t score until Patsy Kealey’s jumper with 14:48 left in the first half. Lawrence did not score again until Kealey hit another jumper at the 7:33 mark, but St. Norbert had built a 29-4 advantage.

The Green Knights led 47-12 at the half, and St. Norbert would lead by as many as 60 points in the second half.

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