Women's Basketball Falls In First Round Tournament Action
March 3, 2004
The Lakeland College Women's Basketball Team concluded an outstanding season by dropping a 58-42 decision to host Carleton College Wednesday night in Northfield, Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Muskies finished 22-6 overall while the Knights improved to 25-3 and advanced to second round play verses Buena Vista College in Iowa this Saturday.

The game featured many runs including one right from the start that saw Lakeland take an early 9-4 lead. Aubri Rote led the charge as she scored Lakeland's first seven points to give the Muskies leads of 5-0 and 7-2.

The Knights answered back with a 9-3 spurt to take the lead 13-12 with 8:31 to go in the half.

After Lakeland charged to a 20-13 lead behind two Casey Thousand jumpers, the Knights made their move to storm out to a 27-22 halftime lead. Carleton put together a 14-2 run as the Muskies scored just the two points in the final 6:14 of the half.

The halftime stats were fairly similar as the Muskies connected on 9 of 22 shots (40.9%) overall while the Knights nailed 8 of 24 (33.3%). Both teams made just one three-pointer - the Muskies on their lone attempt and Carleton on six attempts. The big difference came from the free throw line where Lakeland made just 3 of 6 shots and Carleton made 10 of 14 while taking advantage of their height.

The height wasn't a problem on the boards though as the Muskies out-muscled the Knights 18-17 in the first half. The Knights, however, were able to take advantage of 10 Lakeland first half turnovers while committing just six of their own.

The start of the second half saw Lakeland come roaring back and take their last lead of the game at 30-29 at the 17:38 mark following an 8-2 run behind four different scorers.

But Carleton responded with the key run of the game when they held Lakeland scoreless for the next seven and half minutes and took control of the game with a 14-0 run to make it 43-30 with just over ten minutes to play.

The Muskies didn't give in as they closed the gap to 43-38 with 7:20 to go behind seven points from Renee Steinert. But Carleton closed the game with yet another spurt and outscored Lakeland 15-4 for the final margin.

Overall the Muskies shot 16 of 48 from the field (33.3%) while making just 1 of 7 three-pointers and 9 of 15 free throws. Carleton made just 18 of 49 attempts (36.7%) overall and 4 of 11 from beyond the arc, but took advantage of the home court by hitting 18 of 26 free throws.

The Muskies hung tough on the boards picking up 35 to Carleton's 37. Lakeland ended up with 16 turnovers to the Knights' 10 while both teams committed 18 fouls.

Lakeland was led by Steinert who had 15 points and 13 rebounds while Rote added 14 points. Lone senior Casey Thousand chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds.

Carleton was led by Megan Vig with 21 points and 12 boards while Linnea Engel added 12 points and Kristi Colbenson contributed 9 points and 8 rebounds.