RIVER FOREST, Ill. – After falling behind by as many as 11 points in the opening half and trailing by seven at halftime, the Wisconsin Lutheran College women's basketball team rallied past Dominican to come away with an 82-65 win over the Stars Saturday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum.
It was the host Stars (11-6, 7-3 NAC) who jumped out early as they built a first-half best 11-point lead at 17-6 just eight minutes into play. Wisconsin Lutheran did not go away, however, as it cut the margin to 21-18 with 7:07 remaining in the first half. Dominican made the next surge, going back up by 11 at 33-22. Wisconsin Lutheran again cut that lead to three at 35-32, but the Stars scored the final four points of the half to take a seven-point lead, 39-32, into the break.
Both teams shot the ball well in the opening half as the host Stars connected on 47.1 percent (16-for-34) of their shots, while the Warriors made 46.7 percent (14-for-30) of their first-half attempts.
After two minutes of play in the second half, Dominican maintained its nine-point lead as it led 43-34 with 18:07 to play in the game. The Warriors then went on a 13-0 run led by five points from Katelyn Kuehl (Fond du Lac, Wis./Winnebago Lutheran) and a three-pointer from Rachel Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) to take a 47-43 lead with 14:30 on the clock.
The Stars scored the next basket to make the score 47-45 before WLC rattled off the next six points and 16 of the next 20 to expand its lead to 63-49 with 10:16 remaining in the game. Dominican got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the Warriors coasted to the 17-point victory.
The Warriors scorched the nets in the second half as they made 55.9 percent (19-for-34) of their shots, including 5-of-10 from three-point range. For the game, WLC made nine three pointers, shooting 42.9 percent from long distance. Conversely, the Stars struggled shooting in the second half as they made 35.7 percent (10-for-28) of their shots.
Wisconsin Lutheran again won the rebounding battle, something it has done in all but one game this season, pulling down 40 rebounds compared to Dominican's 33.
Johnson finished with a double-double as she scored 11 points and pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds to lead Wisconsin Lutheran. Shavon Dillon (Milwaukee, Wis. /Hope School) led the team with 15 points as five players finished in double figures for WLC. Joining Johnson and Dillon in double figures was Kuehl (12 points), Kristen Schulz (Safford, Ariz./Arizona Lutheran) (11 points) and Rachel Hoft (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) (11 points).
Dominican's Katie Budz led all scorers with 18 points, while her sister Sarah Budz posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Wisconsin Lutheran (13-3, 10-0 NAC) returns to action Tuesday night when it hosts Marian (11-7, 7-5 NAC) at the Recreation Complex. Tip-off between the Warriors and Sabres is set for 7 p.m. Fans unable to attend the game can follow the action via live audio, stats and video at wlcsports.com.