SHEBOYGAN, WI - The Benedictine University women's basketball team secured a share of their first ever Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference championship and the top seed in the upcoming tournament by running away at Lakeland on Saturday.

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 70, Lakeland 48

THE DETAILS
• Allison Michalski scored the first six points of the game for Benedictine, who led for nearly the entire contest
• Lakeland responded by scoring the next seven points to take a 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter
• Alex Fanning scored the next four points as Benedictine jumped in front again, eventually holding a 14-10 lead after the first
• The hosts cut the lead to two at the start of the second before Britney Pitzer scored four straight as part of an 8-0 run with Claire Gibler capping the spurt to put Benedictine in front 22-10 with 6:01 left in the half
• The lead would reach 14 before the half on a basket from Hanna Piro to make the count 34-20
• Benedictine opened a 19-point lead by tallying the first five points of the third and led 53-32 heading to the final 10 minutes after closing on a 7-0 spurt
• Consecutive buckets from Michalski to open the fourth extended the run to 11-0 and Benedictine found themselves leading 57-32
• Lakeland pulled no closer than 19 the rest of the way as Benedictine wrapped up the top seed
• The conference title marks the first since 1997 for the women's basketball program which was in the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference

STAT LEADERS
• Benedictine shot 45 percent in the contest and held a 40-38 edge on the glass while holding Lakeland to just 27.4 percent
• Michalski logged 22 points, her eighth 20+ performance of the year
• Pitzer tallied 12 points and knocked down 3-of-5 three-pointers
• Fanning finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in her 13th double-double of the year
• 16 players saw the floor in the historic win

UP NEXT
Benedictine (21-2, 18-0 NACC) can wrap up the title outright at Concordia Chicago on Wednesday night