Box Score

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – When playing top teams in a conference, you have to play a full 40 minutes if you want to come away with the victory. The Edgewood College women's basketball team hung with Northern Athletics Conference leading Wisconsin Lutheran College in the first half, but could not keep up with the Warriors in the second half. The Eagles trailed by five at halftime, but Wisconsin Lutheran pulled away in the second half for the 72-54 win.

After Wisconsin Lutheran scored the first bucket of the game, Sadie Ewing tied the game and Dareon Henderson gave the Eagles the lead with a jump shot. The Warriors (12-3, 9-0 NAC) then answered with eight straight points to take a 10-4 lead. Their advantage swelled to eight points before Alison Tobin made a free throw and Melanie Walker drained a three-point basket to pull the Eagles within four at 13-9 just over half way through the first stanza.

The Warriors scored nine of the next 11 points and Krissy Day gave Wisconsin Lutheran a 22-12 lead when she hit a three-point basket. However, Brittany Bylsma made a layup on the Eagles next possession to end the run. Wisconsin Lutheran extended their lead to 11 points with 1:43 left in the first half before Tobin sparked a quick run with back-to-back layups. Allison Novitske ended the first half scoring when she made a layup with two seconds left to make the halftime score 32-27.

Whatever momentum Edgewood College (6-10, 5-5 NAC) hoped would carry over to the second half was quickly thwarted by the Warriors. Wisconsin Lutheran's Alyssa Allister opened the half with a three-point basket before Rachel Johnson made a jumper to push the lead back to 10 points. The lead was still 10 points when Chelsey Watkins made consecutive layups, the second coming after a steal to cut the Eagle deficit to 41-35 with 15:23 remaining.

The Eagles kept the deficit around 10 points and trailed by eight after a Henderson jump shot with just more than 14 minutes to play. However, from that point on it was all Warriors as Rachel Hoft started an 8-0 run with a three-point basket. After a Ewing jump shot, the Warriors scored six consecutive points to make it a 14-2 run, and Wisconsin Lutheran held a commanding 61-41 lead with just under 10 minutes to go.

The lead swelled 24 with more than minutes to go, but the Eagles tallied the final six points of the contest to make the final score 72-54. The Warriors shot 43.5 percent from the field while holding the Eagles to a 31.1 field goal percentage. Wisconsin Lutheran was led by Shavon Dillon and Allister who scored 14 and 11 points, respectively. Kristen Schulz grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Tobin led the Eagles with 13 points and eight rebounds while Jenna Coenen scored eight points. Bylsma and Watkins chipped in with seven points apiece. Bylsma also grabbed eight rebounds.

The Eagles return home on Tuesday when they host Concordia University Wisconsin on Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night. Tipoff from the Todd Wehr Edgeedome is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. If you can't make it to the Edgedome, be sure to tune in online as Edgewood College will provide both live video and stats. Both links can be found on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.