Milwaukee, Wis. - Looking for an opportunity to even up their conference record, the Illinois Tech women's basketball team hit the road for the first time in over a month when they traveled to Milwaukee to take on Wisconsin Lutheran in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) matchup. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Hawks, the Warriors weren't very hospitable on this afternoon, as they defeated the Hawks 77-39. The Hawks fell to 1-3 in conference play and 5-8 overall. The Warriors improved to 3-1 in the NACC and 6-7 overall.

Berit Rusing put together another all-around performance for the Scarlet Hawks, leading the team in scoring with 12 points while grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds. Julia Bucci added 10 points for the Hawks.

The Hawks jumped out to a fast start, with Rusing and Chloe Churilla each scoring a basket in the first 1:17 of the opening quarter to give Illinois Tech a 4-0 lead. The lead would be short-lived however, as the Warriors responded with a 12-0 run to take a 12-4 lead with 4:44 remaining in the quarter. The Hawks would cut their deficit to three points before closing out the quarter trailing 20-15. Wisconsin Lutheran would use a late push in the second quarter to open up a 44-25 lead going into halftime. The surge by the Warriors carried over into the second half, with the Warriors outscoring the Hawks 33-14 the rest of the way to secure the victory.

Scarlet Hawks Standouts

• Berit Rusing led the team in scoring with 12 points, collected a career-high 11 rebounds, while adding 1 assist, 3 steals and 2 blocks
• Julia Bucci added 10 points, including going 2-2 from three-point range, pulling down 3 rebounds and added 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block
• Chloe Churilla with 7 rebounds

Inside The Box Score

• The Warriors finished with 4 players scoring in double-figures, including Kara Troxel with a team-leading 14 points
• Wisconsin Lutheran won the the turnover battle, turning the ball over just 8 times while the Hawks had 21 turnovers
• The Warriors outshot the Scarlet Hawks 41% to 29% from the field

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will travel to Rockford next Wednesday, January 15th, when they take on the Regents at 7:00pm in another NACC matchup.