Lakeland College

Mukies Hold Off Late Eagles Charge for 65-54 Victory

Athletics - posted on 2/8/2006

The Lakeland Muskies held off a late charge by the Edgewood College Eagles to improve to 12-2 in Lake Michigan Conference play with a 65-54 victory on Wednesday night.

"We have a lot of respect for Edgewood and how much offense they can put on the board," said head coach April Arvan. "They are a very talented offensive team. They showed that in the second half when they scored 31 points. I am proud of our players and how they defended, especially when Edgewood started to cut the lead."

Trailing 11-8 with 13:44 left in the first half Lakeland would go on a 12-0 run led by sophomore Jenna Boehm who scored five points in the stretch, and opened up a 14-point halftime lead.

With 2:07 remaining in the game and the Muskies up 57-52, Lakeland went on an 8-2 run to seal the victory, 65-54.

Senior Beth Porter led the Muskies with 18 points, while fellow classmate Kristi Thill scored 17, including five 3-pointers. Boehm also added 13 on a 5-6 shooting night.

"Beth Porter was so aggressive offensively and did a great job controlling things," said Arvan. "Kristi Thill had a Kristi Thill type game. Her 3-point shots meant everything to us. She is the only one that hit them tonight. Jenna Boehm had a good game, and that is exactly what we expect her to do."

The Muskies shot 48 percent in the first half and 43 percent for the game, while holding the Eagles to just 36 percent on the night.

"For us to shoot 48 percent, I expect that from our team all the time," said Arvan. "I'm an offensive minded coach and I'm just not getting the job done with our team in that area. Coach Bouche and the rest of the staff do a great job defensively for us to stay in games. We have worked on our offense, especially against their 1-3-1 so I think it showed a little bit today."

"The zone isn't one of our strong points," said Porter, "but we were able to work the ball in there and find a way to score some points."

Lakeland, 17-6 overall, will close out the home portion of their season against MSOE on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m. A victory over MSOE on Saturday will give assure Lakeland of at least a tie for first-place in the LMC.

"This was huge for us," said Porter. "If we take care of business from here on out we guarantee ourselves home court advantage through the LMC tournament."

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