While a trip to sunny Florida to escape the unseasonably cold weather is approaching fast for the Benedictine University women's basketball team, there is business to take care of in the Northern Athletics Conference first. Over the next week, the Eagles will take on two conference opponents: Lakeland (Saturday, 4:15 p.m.) and Concordia-Chicago (Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.).

Benedictine currently sits at 2-5 overall and 2-2 in NACC play, splitting a pair of conference matchups last week against Aurora and Concordia-Wisconsin. BenU defeated the rival Spartans last Wednesday night in Aurora behind a brilliant shooting night from junior guard Meghan Novak, who scored 20 points and sunk all six three-pointers she attempted. However, the team was unable to build a winning streak on Saturday, falling big to the Falcons despite 10 points from both junior guard Vincenza Ranallo and sophomore post Briana Hamilton. Ranallo now leads the team in points (12.1), rebounds (6.3), and steals (1.1) per game and is second in assists (1.7).

The Eagles travel to Lakeland (3-3, 2-1) on Saturday to take on a Muskies team that has been up and down this season. Lakeland has alternated between wins and losses thus far, but is coming off of a 12 point win at Dominican on Saturday. Also in conference play thus far, the Muskies have defeated Concordia-Chicago and lost to Wisconsin Lutheran. Before opposing the Eagles, Lakeland will take on conference leader Concordia-Wisconsin on Thursday.

Lakeland has not shot the basketball particularly well this season (just 36.9% from the field and 29.5% from three), but they do have a few shooters to keep an eye on. One of them is sophomore guard Lexie Greenheck, who leads the conference with a three-point shooting percentage of 52.4%. Also senior guard Taylor Jandrin is ninth in the conference from beyond the arc at 41.2%. Last season, the Eagles prevailed in a defensive struggled 49-38 at the Dan and Ada Rice Center, holding Lakeland to just 29.2% from the field.

Next Tuesday, the Eagles welcome Concordia-Chicago (0-5, 0-4) to the Rice Center. Despite finishing with 10 conference wins last season and making it to the conference tournament, the Cougars are off to a very slow start this season. However, the team has still managed to play some good teams very tough. One of those contests was a three point loss to unbeaten Concordia-Wisconsin, which is the Falcons' closest game thus far this season. The Eagles and Cougars split both meetings last season, with both teams winning at home.

Even with the winless record, the Cougars still have plenty of players the Eagles will have to focus on. CUC boasts the conference's leading scorer in senior forward Jessica Genke (19 points per game), who also is tied for sixth in the NACC in rebounding (7.2). The player she's tied with is her own teammate: junior forward Kassy Koehler, who's also averaging 9.6 points per game. Also on the league leader boards is senior forward April Broska, who is fifth in the conference with a 43.8 three-point field goal percentage.