The Lawrence University Women’s Basketball team dropped their regular season finale to conference champion St. Norbert last Saturday. The Green Knights defeated the Vikings 69-48. The Vikings will get a rematch against the Green Knights tonight in the semi-finals of the Midwest Conference Basketball Tournament at St. Norbert.
Saturday the Vikings had problems with their offense. They couldn’t make anything early. The Vikings didn’t make their first shot until there was 12:14 left in the first half.
They began 0-14 and it didn’t get much better after they did make one. The Vikings only shot 31 percent in the first half, and remarkably only found themselves trailing 35-29 at the half.
The Vikings attempted to mount a comeback in the second half, but they just didn’t have enough. The Green Knights always had an answer for the Vikings. The depth of St. Norbert overcame the Vikings, and the Green Knights took the win 69-48.
Susan Schramka led all scorers with 20 for the Green Knights.
Felice Porrata had 18 for the Vikings, and MWC Player of the Week Claire Getzoff had 13.
Getzoff was named MWC Player of the Week for her season performance. She only had 10 points last week in a win against Beloit, but those were enough to put her on the top of the all-time single scoring season record list.
Getzoff, only a freshman, now holds the record with 381 points. The record was previously held by Tracie Spangenberg, a Lawrence University hall of famer who had 359 in 1986-87.
This season has been a success for Getzoff; she is second in the MWC in scoring and leads the Vikings with a 16.6 point per game average. Getzoff also leads the MWC in steals.
Felice Porrata has also had another great season for LU. She is first in the MWC in rebounds with 7.9 per game, and is 14th in scoring with 11.6 points per game.
The Lawrence University Women will play in the Midwest Conference Tournament this weekend for the second season in a row, and fourth out of the last five.
The Vikings are the fourth seed, and will play host St. Norbert in the second semi-final tipping off at 7:00 p.m. tonight.
The Green Knights are the only team in the tournament that the Vikings have not defeated this season. In fact, the Green Knights have taken eight straight games from the Vikings.
The other two teams in the tournament, second seeded Lake Forest and third seeded Ripon, were defeated on last minute shots by Getzoff and Porrata respectively this season.
The Green Knights are looking for their first conference championship since 1989, and are looking to avoid losing in the first round for the sixth consecutive season.
Lake Forest has won the last two MWC titles, and is looking for a third. Their two losses this season have come to Lawrence and St. Norbert. The Redhawks are trying to win their first title since 1996.
The championship game will be at 2:00 p.m. at St. Norbert tomorrow. Check www.midwestconference.org late Friday and Saturday for updated results.