APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University women's basketball team battled back Thursday to post a 59-46 nonconference victory over Marian University at Alexander Gymnasium.
    Lawrence was cold from the floor early in the contest, but the Vikings warmed up as the evening progressed to claw back from a 12-point deficit. The Vikings also forced 20 Marian turnovers and held the Sabres to just 29.8 percent shooting for the game.
    Mallory Meyer posted a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead Lawrence (8-3). Maggie Culver added 10 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals for the Vikings. Nikola Kuzmanovic came off the bench to score eight points, and Sophie Morey collected 11 rebounds to go with six points and four assists for Lawrence.
    The Vikings got off to a slow start, and Marian quickly built an 11-2 advantage. The Sabres grabbed their largest lead at 22-10 after a King jumper with 6:04 left in the first half. 
    Lawrence then got its inside game working as the Vikings went on a 13-2 run. Meyer started the burst with a layup and Morey followed with a putback to trim the lead to 22-14. Karly Beck hit a jumper, and after a Marian basket, Kuzmanovic scored the next five points to cut the margin to 24-21. Meyer hit a putback layup to close to 24-23 before Marian recovered.
    The Sabres pushed the lead back to 31-25, but Kuzmanovic buried a 3-pointer before the buzzer to slice the margin to 31-28 at the half.
    Lawrence finally grabbed its first lead of the contest at 37-36 on Meyer's putback layup with 3:08 left in the third quarter. The Vikings wouldn't trail again in the contest.
    Marian tied the game at 39-39, but Libby Crandall hit a 3-pointer to give the Vikings a 42-39 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
    Lawrence pushed the lead to 46-39 on a pair of Meyer baskets before Marian rallied to cut the lead back to two at 46-44. The Vikings steadily pulled away as Taylor Svoboda hit a jumper, and Morey followed with a jump hook to spark a 13-2 run to finish the game. Marian was down 54-46 when it was forced to foul late. Lawrence hit 5-of-8 from the foul line in the final 1:21 to seal the victory. 
    Chelsea King paced Marian (2-7) with 17 points, and Kiara Williams had a double-double of 10 points and 18 rebounds.