Women’s Basketball

Category: Women’s Basketball

Lawrence to conduct national search for women’s basketball coach

Lawrence University is set to conduct a national search for a women’s basketball head coach, Director of Athletics Mike Szkodzinski announced today.

The Vikings have been directed during the 2010-11 season by interim head coach Dennis Nagan, who had served as an assistant with the Vikings for one season prior to this campaign.

“It is our goal to keep the women’s basketball program moving forward, and we believe that is best achieved by exploring all of our options when it comes to the person leading the program,” Szkodzinski said. “This next step is a natural progression in the efforts to sustain enduring success for Lawrence women’s basketball.”

The search will commence immediately with the goal of having a head coach in place as soon as possible, Szkodzinski said. Szkodzinski added Nagan will remain as the interim coach until a full-time head coach is selected.

“Coach Nagan has been nothing but professional in his responsibilities, and we’re thankful for the work he has done to this point,” Szkodzinski said.

“Lawrence University has the strong belief that intercollegiate athletics in an integral part of the education process,” Provost David Burrows said. “I believe the learning process is the most important part of any varsity athletic activity, but part of that experience is a sense of being competitive.”

Women’s basketball at Lawrence has enjoyed a history of success since its inception in 1975. Women’s basketball has won three conference championships, two in the Midwest Conference and another in the Lake Michigan Conference, and earned a NCAA Division III Tournament berth in 1999. The Vikings compiled 23 seasons with a record of .500 or better in their first 31 seasons of competition.

Lawrence has struggled to return to its winning ways in recent seasons. Since the retirement of head coach Amy Proctor following the 2006-07 season, Lawrence has endured four campaigns without a winning record.

Michelle Walsh coached the Vikings in the 2007-08 season, and she resigned in August 2008. Marc Heidorf then coached the Vikings for the next two seasons. Heidorf was dismissed in March 2010, and Nagan was named the interim head coach for the 2010-11 season.

Ripon pulls away late to down Lawrence women

Emily Meyer posted a double-double and the Ripon College women’s basketball team pulled away in the final 10 minutes to post a 64-42 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Meyer scored 15 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Red Hawks (8-14, 7-10 MWC). Brittany Johnson also had 15 points for Ripon.

Cathy Kaye paced Lawrence (0-22, 0-17) with 12 points, and Kanesha Walker and Katie Van Es added 10 points apiece. Alex Deshler grabbed 11 rebounds for the Vikings.

Ripon led by six early in the second half, but the Vikings battled back. Kaye buried a 3-pointer, and Walker followed with a layup to cut Ripon’s lead to 27-26 with 16:45 remaining.

Ripon built the lead back to eight at 36-28, but Lawrence sliced the lead back to 37-32 on Deshler’s layup with 10:53 left. Ripon then went on a 10-0 run, capped by Meyer’s 3-pointer, to pull away.

Lawrence didn’t get closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

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Short-handed Vikings fall at Beloit

BELOIT, Wis. — A short-handed Lawrence University women’s basketball team dropped a 77-55 Midwest Conference decision to Beloit College on Saturday at Flood Arena.

Lawrence (0-21, 0-16 MWC), playing without starters Nakita Chadwick and Kanesha Walker due to injury and a death in the family, were led by Cathy Kaye’s 13 points. Cory Paquette added 11 points and Alex Deshler and Katie Van Es had nine points apiece.

Diana Sopkowicz posted a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Beloit (8-13, 6-10). Sopkowicz was 11-for-12 from the floor.

Lawrence came out of the gate strong and led 12-11 on Paquette’s layup with 13:23 left in the opening half. Beloit then scored the game’s next 13 points to take a 24-12 lead with 7:39 remaining in the half. Kandace Fox scored four points during the run for the Bucs.

Paquette helped the Vikings battle back as she scored five points over the next five minutes to help cut the lead to 28-22 with 2:06 left. The Bucs then scored the final six points of the first half to take a 34-22 lead at the break.

After Lawrence scored the first two points of the second half, Beloit went on a 12-2 run to take a 46-26 lead with 15:33 left. Lawrence didn’t get any closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

Lawrence returns faces Ripon College on Wednesday in its final home game of the season.

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Lady Blues down Lawrence

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Rachel Macon scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Illinois College women’s basketball team to a 58-36 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday.

Carrie Walberg added 13 points for the Lady Blues (11-8, 9-5 MWC) and Sarah Puckett had 11.

Freshman Cory Paquette paced Lawrence (0-20, 0-15) with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Illinois College pulled away early thanks to a long scoreless drought by the Vikings. The game was tied 6-6 before Illinois College scored the game’s next 10 points to grab a 16-6 lead. During that stretch of 7:24, Lawrence went 0-for-2 from the floor and had 10 turnovers.

Illinois College led 29-17 at the half and slowly built its lead after the break. Lawrence closed to within nine points early in the first half, but the Lady Blues responded by scoring the game’s next seven points.

Illinois College would lead by as many as 24 points in the second half.

Lawrence returns to action on Feb. 12 when it travels to Beloit College.

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Lake Forest women top Vikings

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Lake Forest College women’s basketball team pulled away midway through the first half and went on to a 76-48 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Friday night.

Sam Schuring and Alex Messacar scored 12 points apiece to pace the Foresters (9-8, 7-5 MWC).

Cathy Kaye scored a game-high 15 points to pace Lawrence (0-19, 0-14), and Katie Van Es added 10 points. Nakita Chadwick pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for the Vikings.

The Foresters went on a 13-0 to take a 21-6 lead with 10:01 left in the opening half. Lake Forest would lead by as many as 22 points in the first half before settling for a 38-20 lead at the break.

Lawrence cut the lead to 42-29 on Kanesha Walker’s jumper with 16:15 left in the game but would get no closer. The Foresters gradually stretched the lead to as many as 28 points.

Lawrence is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Illinois College.

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First-half outburst propels Ripon to win over Vikings

RIPON, Wis. — The Ripon College women’s basketball team pulled away late in the first half and rolled to a 90-40 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at the Storzer Center.

Jill Van Eperen and Chelsea Aicher scored 16 points apiece to pace Ripon (5-13, 4-9 MWC). Katie Van Es and Nakita Chadwick had seven points apiece to lead Lawrence (0-18, 0-13).

Ripon pulled out to an early 16-7 lead, but the Vikings battled back. Lawrence went on a 12-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 19-18 lead. Chadwick had four points during the outburst and capped the run with a jumper with 7:28 remaining in the opening half.

The Red Hawks then hit nine of their next 11 shots from the floor and finished the first half on a 25-2 run. Ripon led 43-21 at the break.

Ripon continued to steadily build its lead in the second half, with the biggest margin being the final score.

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