Lakeland College

Muskies' Efforts Fall Short Against Concordia, Wis.

Athletics - posted on 1/3/2007

The Lakeland women's basketball team (5-5, 3-2 NAC) suffered a tough loss to Northern Athletics Conference rival Concordia, Wis., on their home floor, 66-53, on Wednesday, Jan. 3. Although the Muskies shot a decent 44 percent from the floor for the game, Concordia simply shot better hitting 50 percent of their attempts.

"To get the win we would have had to take care of the basketball a little bit better, shoot the percentage we shot, then have Concordia shoot poorly," said head coach April Arvan. "We would have needed them to play poorly and for us to play well."

Although the Falcons led by as many as 20 points with a little over five minutes remaining in the first half, the Muskies came out more aggressive in the second half to close the gap to 42-35 on a lay-up by senior forward Jenna Boehm with 12:52 remaining. However, the Falcons continued to find the hoop on offense to keep the game out of Lakeland's reach.

Although Boehm posted 15 points and six rebounds and fellow senior forward Danielle Duranceau tallied her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds, the squad was plagued with 20 turnovers for the game and went 0-5 from 3-point range.

"Concordia is one of the best teams we've played and will play all season," Arvan said. "They are more athletic and well-coached."

Despite the fact that the squad is now on a three-game losing skid, Arvan feels somewhat better about this loss than the past two.

"In comparison to the way we've been playing the last two and a half weeks or so, our effort level was better in spots," she said. "We want to try to get that for 40 minutes, and that's going to take some time.

"I think everybody took a step in the right direction today. It was nice to have Blahnik be a little more aggressive towards the end of the game and Danielle's double-double makes me feel we have the potential to improve."

Blahnik, a freshman guard, scored six of her 10 points with just over two minutes to play in the game and also grabbed five boards.

The Muskies will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 5, traveling to Clarke College for their final non-conference game of the regular season. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m. in Dubuque, Ia.

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