Spartans Capture First NAC Win

AURORA, Ill. December 5, 2006 - The Aurora University women’s basketball team played arguably their best game of the season on Tuesday night in front of an eager Thornton Gymnasium crowd, as the Spartans defeated Northern Athletics Conference for Wisconsin Lutheran College 75-67.

The Spartans played good defense all night long which accounted for the Warriors’ 15 turnovers and shooting just 34.2 percent from the field (25-73) for the game. The turn-overs allowed an opportunistic Spartan offense to get easy first half scores on the fast break with AU jumping out to a 43-34 halftime lead.

AU would go on to lead by as many as 19 points with 7:30 left to play in the second half before a late Warrior rally finished the game with the Spartans eight point victory.

Aurora out rebounded Wisconsin Lutheran 48 to 40 and the Spartans shot 50.8 percent from the field (31-61) for the game.

Four Spartans were in double figures scoring on the night, paced by senior Laura Wiesner, who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The other Spartans in double figures were: Rachael Blanton with 12 points, Beth Plucinski with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Naomi Guise with a game-high 23 points and four steals and Kathleen Thanas had 11 rebounds and seven points.

Wisconsin Lutheran was led by three players scoring in double figures, as Emily Laete led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds, Kristen Dillon had 13 points and Lauren Lanza had 12 points and five rebounds.

With the win AU improves to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the NAC, while Wisconsin Lutheran falls to 3-3 and 1-1 in the NAC.