Men's And Women's Basketball Teams Hit The Road For NCAA Tournament
Feb. 29, 2004
The Lakeland men’s and women’s basketball teams will hit the road this week to open play in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Lakeland women (22-5) get things started Wednesday night when they travel to Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., just south of St. Paul.

The Lakeland men (16-12) get a short trip to Appleton Thursday night to meet Lawrence University (21-4).

Times for both games will be at 7pm.

If either Lakeland team would win, they would advance to the second round and a game against Buena Vista in Storm Lake, Iowa, on Saturday. Storm Lake is in northwestern Iowa.

Women’s game:

Carleton is 24-3 and ranked No. 14 in the d3hoops.com Top 25 national poll. Carleton is making its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and has won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference two straight years.

Lakeland, which has won 13 straight games, is making its fourth NCAA appearance in six seasons. Both schools have 1-3 records in NCAA Tournament play.

Both teams led their league in defense this season. Lakeland is holding its opponents to 50.5 points per game, while Carleton holds it opponents to 58.1 points.

Carleton has four players who average double-figure scoring, led by 5-foot-11 sophomore Megan Vig who averages 15.7 points and 7 rebounds a game.

Lakeland is led by freshman Aubri Rote (14.6 points) and junior Renee Steinert (14.2 points, 7.7 rebounds).

Men’s game:

Lawrence is 21-4 and ranked No. 25 in the d3hoops.com Top 25 national poll. Lawrence is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance, and won both the Midwest Conference title and MWC Tournament this season.

Lakeland is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance and its first postseason berth since playing in the NAIA Tournament in 1994.

Lakeland and Lawrence have four common opponents this season – Lake Forest, Viterbo, Milwaukee School of Engineering and North Central. Lakeland is 3-2 this season against those four schools, while Lawrence is 4-2.

The Vikings are led by rugged 6-5 sophomore Chris Braier who averages 15.5 points and 13.2 rebounds, and 6-4 senior Chris MacGillis who averages 15.3 points.

Senior Cory Nickel averages 20 points for Lakeland. He currently has 1,489 points in his career, good for eighth all-time at Lakeland. Junior Nick Zeck averages 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds.