MADISON, Wis. – Over the course of a long basketball season, a team's offense might disappear and they will have to rely on defense to win games. The Edgewood College women's basketball team struggled from the field but their defense held Lakeland College in check as the Eagles pulled out a 55-41 victory at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.

Leading 11-9, Shae Beckwith sparked an 8-0 Eagle run when she knocked down a jump shot with 6:49 left in the first half. Denay Hering drained a three-point basket, followed by a triple from Beckwith and the Eagles (9-5, 7-1 NAC) took a 19-9 lead with just over five minutes to play in the first half.

In the final minute of the first half, Beckwith scored two of her game-high 14 points with 52 second left to give the Eagles a 14 point lead, their largest of the half. However, Lakeland's Alyssa Schuttenhelm made a jump shot with 30 seconds left to make the halftime score 27-15.

After Brittany Bylsma put the Eagles back up by 14 just 11 seconds into the second half, the Muskies (5-9, 2-6 NAC) went on a 7-0 run. Schuttenhelm scored the first six points and Becca Tilleman made a free throw to make the deficit 29-22 with 16:39 remaining.

However, that was as close as the Muskies got the rest of the way as Alison Tobin and Beckwith made back-to-back buckets to push the lead back to 11. The Eagles earned their largest lead of the game, 51-32 with 6:28 left, after a quick 5-0 scoring spurt. Tobin sparked the spurt with two of her eight points. Maggie Peerenboom capped the scoring with 55 seconds left when she made a layup to make the final scored 55-41 and give the Eagles their 10th consecutive home win.

The Eagles grabbed a season-high 52 rebounds, 22 on the offensive end. Bylsma and Tobin led the team with 11 rebounds apiece which tied a career-high for each. Bylsma also registered her second career double-double with 13 points to go along with those 11 boards. Her other double-double came last season against Maranatha Baptist.

Lakeland snared more offensive rebounds (17) than defensive rebounds (14) for a total of 31. Schuttenhelm led the Muskies with 12 points while Rachel Diedrich scored 11 points in just 14 minutes.

The Eagles close their busy week with a road game against Rockford College on Saturday afternoon.
Rockford College will provide live stats for the 2:00 p.m. start. The link can be found on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com