Women’s Basketball

APPLETON, Wis. — The Grinnell College women’s basketball team held off a stubborn Lawrence University squad on Saturday to post a 50-37 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.

Sophia Gatton led three Grinnell players in double figures with 14 points. Kayla Morrissey added 13 points and Anne Boldt had 11 for the Pioneers (6-5, 3-3 MWC).

Liz Arco paced Lawrence (0-10, 0-5) with 11 points. She also added five rebounds, five blocks, four assists and four steals. Andrea Wilkinson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for Lawrence to go along with eight points.

Grinnell scored the game’s first seven points and seemed to maintain that advantage throughout but had trouble putting away the Vikings.

Lawrence’s Olivia Hoesley hit a 3-pointer to trim Grinnell’s lead to 14-8 after the first quarter. The Vikings cut the lead to four twice early in the second quarter on baskets by Aubrey Scott and Arco, but Grinnell finally pushed the lead to 29-18 in the final minute of the period.

Grinnell started to pull away by scoring the first seven points of the third quarter, capped by Boldt’s 3-pointer, for a 36-20 lead. The Vikings responded as Wilkinson and Arco picked up two baskets apiece to cut the margin back to 39-28 late in the third.

The Pioneers finally sealed the win by scoring six consecutive points midway through the fourth quarter to grab a 47-30 lead. Lawrence didn’t get closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team returns to Midwest Conference action on Saturday when the Vikings host Grinnell College. The game tips off at 3 p.m. at Alexander Gymnasium.

Preview

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.

Box score

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.

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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.

Box score

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.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Illinois College women’s basketball team pulled away from Lawrence University in the final quarter Saturday and posted a 56-41 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.

Brielle Greenleaf led Illinois College (4-2, 2-0 MWC) with 11 points, and Melissa Solorio and Jill Friedrich added 10 points apiece. Solorio completed a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Liz Arco paced Lawrence (0-5, 0-4) with 12 points, and she picked up nine rebounds. Andrea Wilkinson led the Vikings with 10 rebounds.

Illinois College took control of the game late in the second quarter and early in the third. The Lady Blues held Lawrence scoreless for a stretch of 9:32 that finally ended when Olivia Hoesley hit a 3-pointer with 5:43 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 32-23.

Illinois College would push its lead back to as many as 14 in the third quarter, but a pair of free throws from Fanita Robins and a jumper from Patsy Kealey trimmed the margin back to 40-30 heading to the fourth.

The Lady Blues scored the first three points of the fourth quarter, but Robins answered with a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 43-33 with 8:58 left in the game.

Illinois College then scored six of the game’s next seven points to build a 49-34 advantage. Lawrence never got closer than 13 points after that.

The Vikings fell behind 9-2 to start the game, but Lawrence battled back to cut the margin to 12-11 after the first quarter.

Lawrence took its first lead at 13-12 on Arco’s jumper to start the second quarter. The Vikings later went on a 7-0 run, capped by Kealey’s jumper with 5:15 left in the opening half, to grab a 20-18 edge. Illinois College then held Lawrence scoreless for the rest of the first half and led 28-20 at the break.

Box score

BELOIT, Wis. — Lana Wieseman and Nora Polaski combined to score 57 points Wednesday to lead the Beloit College women’s basketball team to a 93-73 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at Flood Arena.

Wieseman scored 35 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Polaski added 22 points to lead Beloit (3-3, 2-1 MWC). Wieseman hit 12-of-19 shots from the floor, and Polaski was a perfect 10-for-10.

Liz Arco paced Lawrence (0-4, 0-3) with 15 points and a team-high four assists. Andrea Wilkinson added 14 points and a team-best six rebounds for the Vikings. Aubrey Scott chipped in with a career-high 12 points as she hit 5-of-7 shots from the floor, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

Lawrence led 15-10 in the first quarter, but Beloit outscored the Vikings 14-6 over the final four minutes to grab a 24-21 lead after one quarter.

A 9-0 run by the Bucs helped them take control in the second quarter and push the lead to 44-32. Beloit led 48-38 at the half.

The Vikings never got closer than 10 points in the third quarter, but the Bucs couldn’t put Lawrence away. Scott’s jumper cut Beloit’s advantage to 68-55 after three quarters.

Lawrence trimmed the margin back to 10 points twice, the first on Scott’s 3-pointer and the second on Wilkinson’s jumper to make it 70-60. Beloit responded with a 15-0 run to push the lead to 85-60 and seal the victory.

Box score

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team takes on a pair of Midwest Conference rivals this week. The Vikings travel to Beloit College for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday. Lawrence then returns home to Alexander Gymnasium for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday vs. Illinois College.

Preview

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lake Forest College women’s basketball team jumped out to a 12-0 lead Wednesday and went on to a 60-36 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.

K.C. Stralka posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Foresters (1-1, 1-0 MWC). Brie Majkowski, Michelle Ricolcol and Brittany Avonts had eight points apiece for Lake Forest.

Liz Arco scored a game-high 12 points to pace Lawrence (0-3, 0-2), and Andrea Wilkinson added eight points.

The Foresters kept Lawrence off the board until Sammi Jo Nixon’s 3-pointer with 3:41 left in the opening quarter trimmed the margin to 12-3. Lake Forest would go on to lead 15-7 after the opening 10 minutes.

The Vikings got a layup from Arco and a 3-pointer from Patsy Kealey to cut the lead to 15-12 with 8:40 left in the second quarter. Lake Forest finished the first half on a 10-2 run and pushed the lead to 25-14 at the half.

The Foresters pushed the lead to 20 points late in the third quarter and would go on to lead by as many as 26 points in the final period.

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