Box Score The 2011-2012 season came to close for the Dominican University women’s basketball team on Saturday evening as they were unable to upend the defending Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Tournament Champions, the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors, falling to the Warriors 85-61 in the NAC Tournament Championship Round.  The loss closes out a 19-9 campaign for the Stars that included a 13-4 mark in conference play and the program’s second consecutive NAC South Division Title.
 
Dominican opened a 4-0 lead in the early going behind baskets from Ashley Oliver (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and Laura Knieps (Tinley Park, Ill.) but the Warriors, after missing their first four shots of the night, stormed back with an 8-0 run of their own capped by Shavone Dillon’s lay in with 15:33 to play in the first half and never looked back.
 
The Warriors shot near 62 percent in the first half, opening up a 14-point lead at the half, 48-34.  Sarah Budz (Orland Park, Ill.), who had a game-high 20 points, scored 12 in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to help keep the Stars close.
 
The Warriors extended their lead to 20 early in the second half but a 14-6 run capped by a steal and lay in by Budz narrowed the lead to 66-54 with 9:28 remaining but the Warriors answered as Krissy Day’s three sparked a 10-2 run to put the lead back to 76-56 and douse the Stars’ threat.
 
Dillon and Katelyn Kuehl paced the Warriors with 18 and 17 points respectively.  As a team Wisconsin Lutheran shot 33-for-61 from the field, going 6-for-10 from three-point range, and outrebounded the Stars 43-26.
 
Budz finished the night 9-for-14 from the field in 37 minutes of work while Kayla Blom (Circle Pines, Minn.) added 11 points in the losing effort.
 
The season marked the Stars first appearance in the NAC Championship contest and first appearance in any conference tournament championship since 1994 when the then Rosary College Rebels won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC).