The men’s basketball team ended their season with a 7-11 record in conference play and an 11-13 record overall. Our boys started the season off strong and won their first 5 games of the season. After their 5 game win streak, the Vikings lost 4 straight games, but finished off the month of December with a W against Oglethorpe at the Daytona Beach Shootout. The month of January was a rollercoaster ride for our men’s basketball team as they alternated wins and losses in conference play. The month of February was not nice to our boys, and they lost their last six games in conference play.
The women’s basketball team ended their season with a 7-18 record overall and a 6-11 record in conference play. Our Lady Vikings started the season off sluggishly as they dropped their first 3 games of the year. Our girls showed signs of life and picked up two wins in their long and cold December schedule. The women’s basketball team played their best ball in January as they won 4 games and lost 5. The Lady Vikings, like our men’s basketball team, finished the season off with a 4 game losing streak in conference play.
Lawrence University men and women’s basketball held their senior night for this past weekend on Saturday, Feb. 17 against Lake Forest. Our men’s basketball team (11-13) lost to Lake Forest (17-8) by 31 points and the final score was 82-51. The Vikings started the game strong and built a 20-12 lead with the help of two three-pointers apiece from seniors Jeremy Stephani and Ben Peterson. The Vikings held a 25-19 lead with 6:59 left in the first half before Lake Forest scored 16 unanswered points. Jeremy Stephani led the team with 15 points and 8 rebounds in their season finale.
Our women’s basketball team (7-18) also lost to Lake Forest (12-13) Saturday night. The final score of the women’s game was 69-52. The game between the Lady Vikings and Lake Forest was heavily contested in the first quarter. The first quarter ended 15-12 in favor of Lake Forest. The Foresters led by 13 points early in the second half, and our Lady Vikings got no closer than seven points the rest of the game then Lake Forest pulled away late. Freshman Kenya Earl led the team with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
This basketball season was not all bitter for our men and women’s basketball teams. Stephani reached the milestone of scoring one thousand career points this season—he finished his Lawrence basketball career with 1,098 points. Also, the future of our women’s basketball team is bright. Earl averaged 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this season. She also finished the season by shooting 86.8 percent from the free-throw line and broke a two pair of Lawrence records. Lawrence basketball fans are definitely going to miss this year’s senior class next season, but they will also be excited to see how much our teams have grown over the offseason.
