Finlandia’s Katie Lundeen drives the ball up the floor during a game last season at the Paavo Nurmi Center in Hancock. (Photo courtesy of Finlandia University)

HANCOCK — It was a battle down to the wire as the Finlandia University women’s basketball team (0-1) lost 69-68 to Wisconsin-Superior (1-0), Tuesday night at the Paavo Nurmi Center.

In the second period, UW-Superior pushed the lead to nine, 25-16 at the 7:01 mark.  Finlandia began to chip away.  Junior Casana Ryynanen hit a pair of free throws to close to one, 33-32 with 1:45 left in the period.

The Yellowjackets went on a 9-2 run to lead 47-36 at the 4:20 mark.  Sophomore Ellie Djerf hit a bucket that started a 16-5 burst.  Junior Natalie Bartle hit a driving layup to tie the game at 52 with 26 seconds left in the third.

It was back-and-forth the whole final period.  UWS hit a bucket with 29 seconds left to go up 67-66. Senior Katie Lundeen scored on a tough shot in the paint to put FinnU up 68-67 with 17 seconds left. UW-Superior scored with 1.6 seconds left for the win.

For Finlandia, Lundeen had 18 points, blocked two shots and was 8-of-10 from the floor, Bartle had 14 points, seven assists and five steals and Ryynanen scored 11.  Lundeen now has 1200 career points, the fifth player in program history to reach that plateau.

For UW-Superior, Kaelyn Christian had 22 points and Chloe Peterson had 15 points.

Finlandia remains home, Saturday, Nov. 12, taking on Northland.  The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.