Dowden's 25 Leads Warriors Over Spartans In NACC Opener

MILWAUKEE (WLCSports.com) – The Wisconsin Lutheran College women's basketball team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play with a 70-57 victory over the visiting Aurora Spartans Saturday afternoon inside the Recreation Complex. Jen Dowden (Bonduel, Wis.) led all scorers with a season-high 25 points and WLC scored 28 points off 17 AU turnovers on the way to its 19th straight home victory.

• Final Score: Wisconsin Lutheran 70, Aurora 57
• Records: Wisconsin Lutheran (3-0, 1-0 NACC), Aurora (0-4, 0-1 NACC)
• Location: Recreation Complex, Milwaukee, Wis.

• Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net in the early stages of the first quarter, with WLC holding a 6-3 lead with five minutes remaining.
• Dowden connected on a triple after a steal by Kelly Tramburg (Fall River, Wis.) to push the Warriors lead to 11-3, but the Spartans fought back and cut the hosts' lead to 13-9 after the first quarter.
• Aurora opened the second quarter with eight straight points to take a 17-13 lead, its largest of the game, but WLC responded with two triples from Tierney Woodward (Poynette, Wis.) and a layup from Dowden to take a 21-19 lead with just over five minutes left in the half.
• Jenna Mace (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) scored six points in a two-minute span to extend the WLC lead to seven points with under a minute remaining in the opening half, but the Spartans connected on a three-pointer to cut the Warriors lead to just four at half, 34-30.
• Dowden connected on back-to-back triples in the opening minutes of the third quarter to give Wisconsin Lutheran a 43-35 lead, then Maddy Elrod (Conifer, Colo.) converted a three-point play to put WLC ahead 49-39 with four minutes to play in the third period.
• Lexi Reinke (Bonduel, Wis.) buried a triple from the top of the key, then grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to Dowden for a layup, extending the WLC lead to 15 points in the final minutes of the third quarter.
• The Spartans opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to cut the Warriors lead to eight points, but Tramburg responded with a personal 5-0 run to put WLC back ahead by 13.
• Maddie Cruz (New Berlin, Wis.) registered a steal and the ensuing layup to put the game out of reach for Aurora, with WLC taking the 70-57 victory.

• Dowden led the Warriors with 25 points and eight rebounds while Elrod added 16 points and six boards.
• Mace added nine points and Reinke tallied three points, three rebounds, four steals and five assists.
• WLC shot 41 percent (25-of-61) from the floor and converted 80 percent (12-of-15) of their attempts from the free throw line.
• The Warriors forced 17 turnovers and converted those takeaways into 28 points.
• Wisconsin Lutheran won its sixth straight over Aurora and 19th straight at home.

• Adriana Ramirez and Meija Rabi paced Aurora with 15 points each while Ramirez pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds.
• Julie Galauner added 13 points and five rebounds.
• AU shot 35.3 percent (18-of-51) from the floor and knocked down 88.9 percent (16-of-18) of its free throw attempts.

• The Warriors continue NACC play a week from today when they travel to Mequon to face Concordia Wisconsin. The Falcons (2-1, 1-0 NACC) fell to Hope 85-62 Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at WLCSports.com.