Lakeland College

Eisner and Mayo in charge, Lakeland women drill Edgewood

Athletics - posted on 2/7/2013

MADISON, Wis. - Leah Eisner (Jr.-Stevens Point, Wis.) and Becky Mayo (Sr.-Gladstone, Mich.) thoroughly dominated play inside and the Lakeland College women's basketball team kept alive its postseason hopes with a 74-56 win over Edgewood College Thursday night at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.

The Muskies closed to within one-half game of the Eagles for the fourth and final Northern Athletics Conference Tournament berth for the North Division, improving to 9-8 in the NAC (11-13) overall while Edgewood dropped to 9-7 in conference (10-13 overall). Lakeland still trails the Eagles by one game in the loss column and needs to win its regular season finale against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Wednesday while also needing Edgewood to lose at least one of its final two regular season games.

Eisner and Mayo were nearly unstoppable in the paint area all night. Eisner finished with a career-high 25 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots, while Mayo added 14 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. Eisner made nine of 15 shots from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and defensively the duo helped Lakeland hold Edgewood to 34.8% shooting (23-of-66) for the night.

The Muskies got off to a good start, leading 14-4 early on, but scored just ten points in the final 14:35 of the first half and trailed 29-24 at halftime. Lakeland outscored Edgewood 50-27 in the second half, though, setting a season high for most points in a half.

Aimee Thrune (Jr.-Prairie du Sac, Wis.) hit a three-pointer to give the Muskies a 36-33 lead with 15:02 left in the second half, and Lakeland would never trail again. A 14-4 run midway through the half gave the Muskies a 53-41 lead with 6:55 to play, and Edgewood got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Natalie Neitzel (Fr.-Theresa, Wis.) added ten points off the bench and was one of four Muskies to hit two three-pointers. Lakeland shot 8-of-20 from three-point range and made 24 of 54 field goals in the game (44.4%).

Alison Tobin scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and was the only Eagle in double figures. Edgewood shot just 2-of-15 from three-point range and hit just 11 of 37 shots in the second half (29.7%).

The Muskies wrap up their regular season on Wednesday against MSOE at 7 p.m. in Milwaukee.