SAULT STE. MARIE - Lake Superior State women's basketball captured their first victory of the season Sunday evening in the final game of the Super 8 Hotel Classic inside the Cooper Gymnasium. Strong defense propelled the Lakers (1-3) to the 57-46 victory over Minnesota-Duluth.

Tamara Novic, a center from Belgrade, Serbia, led the Lakers in scoring with 11 points and added six rebounds. Novic played 23 minutes while spelling the Lakers starting center, freshman Rachel Novotny.

Novotny, started the game but was limited to only 13 minutes of playing time, scored a career-high nine points and collected four rebounds. The center from New Berlin, Wisc. opened the second half with a spinning hook shot that dropped while being fouled. Novotny went 3-for-3 from the field during the third quarter and 4-for-4 for the contest.

The three-point play by Novotny to open the second half extended the Lakers lead to 34-19 as the Bulldogs were never able to cut the lead to single-digits during the final 20 minutes.

Mackenzie Edwards capped a strong weekend finishing with 10 points and three steals.

Freshman Valerie Meissner and senior April LaCross each tied Novotny's point total of nine points. LaCross also tallied seven rebounds to lead the Lakers on the glass while providing 27 minutes of strong defense and deft shooting, going 4-5 from the field and hitting the only three she attempted.

The Lakers defense held the Bulldogs (0-3) to 32.7 percent from the field, including 22.2 percent from behind the line, while knocking down nearly 45 percent of their shots from the floor. The Lakers also made eight of nine free throw line.

Samantha Kozlowski led UM-D with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Allyson Harris also added seven rebounds to go along with her 10 points.

Harris, the Bulldogs' leading scorer this season, was limited to only 23 minutes on the floor after finding herself in foul trouble.

With the victory LSSU extends it's all-time record against Minnesota-Duluth to 5-2.

Dec. 3 marks the next outing for the Lakers as they open Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play against the Findlay Oilers at home. The Lakers will also host Wayne State on Dec. 5.