MEQUON, Wis. – Ending six years of frustration against a rival, the Lakeland University women's basketball team clinched its first trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in seven years with a 64-60 win over Concordia University Wisconsin 64-60 Saturday afternoon in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament championship game.

The Muskies clinched their first NACC tourney title since 2010 and first trip to the NCAA tourney since then, and they couldn't have done it in much more satisfying fashion. Second-seeded Lakeland snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Falcons and did so on its opponents' home floor with a late rally in the final minutes.

The Muskies (20-7 overall) trailed 58-54 with four minutes left in the game but outscored Concordia 10-2 the rest of the way, avenging a pair of losses to the Falcons earlier in the season. Lakeland now will find out its NCAA Tournament fate on Monday when the 64-team bracket is announced.

The Muskies led almost the entire second and third quarters and were ahead by 12 points late in the third quarter, but Concordia (22-5 overall) roared back with a 13-2 run and trailed just 46-45 only 12 seconds into the fourth quarter after a three-point play by Brianna Wagner. The game then settled into an intense battle down the stretch, with neither able to shake the other.

Lakeland pushed its lead back up to four twice after Kayla Clark (Sr.-West Bend, Wis.) hit three-pointers, but the Falcons came back and led 58-54 with 4:16 left after a basket by Audrey Scharmer. Rachel Stankevich (Jr.-Goodman, Wis.) hit a three-pointer the next time down to get the Muskies back within one, and Bailey Grayvold (Sr.-Norway, Mich.) made two free throws with 2:17 left to give Lakeland the lead back at 59-58.

With the Muskies clinging to a one-point lead, Concordia missed twice from the field and committed a pair of turnovers, and Lakeland capitalized when Maddy Doll (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) scored inside for a 61-58 lead with 41 seconds left. Scharmer answered with a jumper with 20 seconds left, but Grayvold hit two free throws three seconds later to move the margin back to three.

Concordia tried for the tie, but Scharmer missed a three-point try with eight seconds left. Stankevich grabbed the rebound and made one of two foul shots to salt it away and give the Muskies their first win over Concordia since a 54-50 win Feb. 7, 2012.

Like it did in its semifinal win over Alverno College, Lakeland took the fight to the Falcons from the start with good three-point shooting. The Muskies hit 5 of 9 from long range in the first half in building a 31-22 halftime lead. Miranda Jacobson (So.-Felch, Mich.) hit three triples in the first 20 minutes when she scored 15 of her game-high 19 points.

In all, Lakeland made 9 of 20 from three-point range, posting a big advantage over the Falcons, who were just 1-for-10 from behind the arc.

Jacobson also grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, keying an outstanding effort on the boards. The Muskies out-rebounded CUW 42-40 after having lost the rebounding battle by a combined minus-26 margin over the teams' two regular season meetings.

Clark scored 11 points, including three three-pointers, and Stankevich added 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The Muskies shot 36.1% (22 of 61) but held the Falcons to 35.4% shooting (23 of 65).

Brianna Wagner scored 18 points and Scharmer and Taylor DeLong both added 16 for Concordia, which also shot 13-for-13 from the foul line. The NACC regular season champion Falcons now will wait in hopes of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Lakeland won its second NACC title and will be making its seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Muskies' last visit in 2010 ended with a first-round loss to DePauw (Ind.) University.