APPLETON, Wis. -- The Carroll University women's basketball team held off a spirited effort from Lawrence University to post an 85-64 Midwest Conference victory Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lawrence (0-9, 0-3 MWC), with a roster of only eight players, hung with the Pioneers (7-2, 3-0) before they pulled away in the final four minutes.
Erin Henzi led Lawrence with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Laura Aerts added 15 points and Katie Condon had 12. Lyndsey Seewald led Carroll and all scorers with 26 points. Karen Hoewisch added 21 points, and Janelle Groer had 15.
Lawrence gave Carroll a tough game despite 35 Vikings turnovers, and the Pioneers shooting 38 free throws.
Carroll looked like it might pull away midway through the first half as the Pioneers held a 10-point lead at 26-16 with 7:25 left. Lawrence chipped away at the advantage, cutting the lead to 29-26 before Carroll recovered to lead 39-32 at the break.
The Pioneers led 45-37 after a pair of Cailin Tuchscherer free throws with 17:22 remaining in the game. Lawrence then score the game's next seven points, with Henzi collecting a pair of baskets in that stretch, to trim the margin to 45-44 with 15:39 remaining.
Carroll pumped the lead back up to six points at 52-46, but the Vikings came right back. Henzi hit a layup, Aerts followed with a jumper, and Henzi got another layup to tie the game at 52-52 with 10:19 left. Katie Van Es' fastbreak layup then gave Lawrence a 54-52 lead, the Vikings first advantage since they led 2-0.
Seewald hit a jumper to tie the game at 54-54 and followed that with a 3-pointer to give Carroll the lead for good.
Carroll pushed the lead back to 10 points, but Lawrence trailed by only eight after Aerts' layup with 3:55 remaining. Carroll then scored the next eight points to finally seal the win.
Lawrence returns to action next Tuesday when they travel to Beloit College.