Notables -UWS had four players score in double figures vs. just two for the Saints-CSS never led in this contest-St. Scholastica has now lost five in a row to UWS dating back to December of 2011
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholatica women's basketball team fell on Tuesday night to the Yellowjackets of the University of Wisconsin-Superior by a final score of 71-59 at the Reif Gymnasium.
The first five minutes of this game started out very evenly with both squads starting out playing very well. It was not until Allyssa Lindberg for UWS sank a 3-pointer that the Yellowjackets went out front. Lindberg's bucket ignited a 9-4 scoring run that turned the score from 10-6 in favor of UWS to 19-10 with 12:58 to go in the first half.
CSS would answer the Superior run with a 9-4 run of its own to dwindle the deficit back down to four points at 25-21 with 6:06 to go in the half. The Saints run got started with a 3-point play by
Holly VanKempen (Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central HS) and was finished by a
Jenna Langer (Long Prairie, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle HS) jump shot. Langer would finish the game with eight points while crucial the three point play proved to be the only points of the night for VanKempen.
Unfortunately for CSS, the Yellojackets would counter the Saints run with back-to-back 3-pointers by Lindberg to set UWS up 31-21 with just under five minutes left in the half. Superior would keep up that lead for most of the first half and go into the halftime locker room up by seven points at 39-32.
The second half saw the Yellowjackets maintain a high single digit lead at seven and nine points until there were about 11:30 to go in the contest. CSS did manage to shrink the hole down to four with a
Brittani Brennan (Ashland, Wis./Ashland HS) 3-pointer and a
Danica Schellbach (Rush City, Minn./Rush City HS) layup, but it was not enough as UWS pulled away in the late minutes.
UWS led by as much as 20 in the second half at 66-46 with 4:14 to go in the game, but CSS would mount a small comeback in the late minutes of the game going on a 13-5 run, but it proved to be too little too late as UWS escaped with the victory at 71-59.
Brennan and
Kelsey Sorenson-Giffrow (Braham, Minn./Braham HS (Minn. Duluth)) led the way scoring for the Saints. Sorenson ended with 16 points and three assists while Brennan added 12 for CSS. UWS shot 43.6% making 24-of-55 shots from the field while St. Scholastica shot 39.3% making 22-of-56 shots.
CSS (0-2, 0-0 UMAC) will travel to Menomonie, Wisconsin to play in the Thanksgiving Turkey Shootout hosted by UW-Stout this weekend. The first game of that tournament will see the Saints take on the host Blue Devils at 5 p.m. this Saturday.
