UWS women in 4-way tie for first

The University of Wisconsin-Superior women’s basketball team continued its record-setting season with a 72-67 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night at Mertz Mortorelli Gym.

The victory puts UWS at 14-3 overall and 6-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Both marks set or tie records for the Yellowjackets.

Superior’s 14 wins top the previous record of 13 set in 1979-80, and the six conference wins match the Yellowjackets’ total from the 1994-95 season.

UW-River Falls drops to 9-8 overall and 3-5 in the WIAC.

“River Falls is good, and River Falls is really gritty,” said Don Mulhern, head coach of the Yellowjackets. “They scrap and they compete; they don’t take a play off.

“It was a good gritty home win that they made us earn, and we earned it.”

The Falcons put UWS on its heels at the start of the game. Kristen Nett’s 3-pointer at 19:14 gave UWS an early lead, but UW-River Falls followed with a 19-4 run over the next six minutes to take control.

River Falls built its largest lead of the night at the 10:07 mark after Brittany Gregorich came up with a steal and Richell Mehus knocked down her second 3-pointer to put the Falcons up 27-13.

Sally Linzmeier then took over for UWS with seven points in a 15-4 run to close the gap to 31-28 with 4:13 left in the first half.

“She has stretches that I just want to bottle because it’s her and her will that’s making plays,” Mulhern said. “All I can say is: Fans come and watch someone special.”

Five straight points from Mehus put the Falcons back up by eight, but a 3-pointer from Connie Urmanski and a free throw by Vanessa Lebens left UWS trailing just 40-34 at halftime.

The Yellowjackets struggled on the boards in the first half, despite being evenly matched with the Falcons in height. River Falls held a 19-9 advantage in rebounding for the first half, including 6-1 on offensive rebounds.

The Falcons also held a sizeable advantage in points in the paint for the first half, leading UWS 18-6.

“We didn’t play our best; that’s not a secret,” Mulhern said. “But I told them good teams find a way to win when it’s maybe not their night.”

For the Yellowjackets, they found a way to win though their team depth and reserve players.

UW-River Falls retained a six-point at 15:40 in the second half when Grace Kennedy’s turn-around jumper made it 44-40. Hillary Peterson then made it a one-possession game with a shot inside, and Linzmeier tied it at 44-44 with 14:22 to play.

The Falcons reclaimed the lead on the next possession, but baskets from Urmanski and Linzmeier then put UWS ahead for good.

“Every player has a role, and they’re different roles,” Mulhern said. “We’ve talked about the idea of role acceptance. Everybody can’t be the lead actor in the play — you have to have understudies.”

But when called upon, Mulhern said, each player needs to be ready.

Freshman Carmen Watson stepped up for the Yellowjackets in the final minutes Wednesday.

UWS held a tentative lead until Watson put in a pair of consecutive shots to give UWS a 66-57 advantage with 3:35 to play.

“Carmen Watson was a huge sparkplug,” Mulhern said. “That’s an understatement, but she was.”

The first of Watson’s two key shots came at 4:12 with UWS leading by five. The freshman pulled down an offensive rebound and made the put-back to put UWS up 64-57.

On the next possession Watson got position inside and posted up her defender to give the Yellowjackets a nine-point cushion.

River Falls scored seven points in the final minute to challenge for the lead but fell short, 72-67.

“I actually talked to Coach earlier about the previous game — Whitewater. I didn’t have a good game, and players came in and stepped up in my place,” Watson said. “Basically (the opposite) happened tonight. A lot of players couldn’t play their game, so I just came in and played my game and helped out the team.”

Watson finished the night with eight points and led the Yellowjackets with eight rebounds.

Linzmeier led all scorers with 22 points, Urmanski added nine and Kristen Nett added eight. Peterson finished with four blocks for the Yellowjackets.

“Our team truly is happy when each teammate is successful,” Mulhern said. “It’s a group success when there’s individual success.”

The Yellowjackets are in a four-way tie for first place following UW-Whitewater’s loss to UW-Oshkosh Wednesday night. Leading in the WIAC standing with UWS are UW-Whitewater (12-5, 6-2), UW-Oshkosh (14-3, 6-2) and UW-Stevens Point (14-3, 6-2).

The UWS women now hold a four-game winning streak and remain undefeated at home (7-0). They wrap up their recent home stand Saturday with a 3 p.m. game against UW-Platteville. UWS then travels to UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 24 and UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 26.

’JACKET JOTTINGS: UWRF swept the Yellowjacket women last season, winning 65-44 at River Falls and 64-62 at Superior. … The last time UWS swept River Falls in the regular season was 2004-05.

UWS men lose

Zach Peterson had 26 points and seven rebounds to lead UWRF to a 92-77 WIAC win over the UWS men at the Karges Center in River Falls.

U.T. Udo added 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Falcons (6-11, 1-7), who made 28-of-36 free throws to hold on down the stretch.

UWS (7-10, 3-5) was balanced offensively, with Johnquez Brooks (21 points), Jarrod Peterson (20) and Trent Davis (18) scoring in double figures.

The UWS men host UW-Platteville at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Women’s Basketball

UW-River Falls 40-27—67

UW-Superior 34-38—72

UW-River Falls (9-8)

Brittany Gregorich 5-8 8-8 18; Richell Mehus 3-5 8-12 16; Tess Lueders 4-16 2-4 10; Nikki Guhr 4-11 2-4 10; Jessie Van Wyhe 3-7 0-1 7; Hailey Siegle 3-6 0-0 6; Kristi Elles 0-1 0-0 0; Holly Riesselman 0-1 0-0 0; Jamie Kenealy 0-1 0-0 0; Taylor Elton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-57 20-29 67.

UW-Superior (14-3)

Sally Linzmeier 9-17 2-2 22; Connie Urmanski 4-8 0-0 9; Kristen Nett 3-4 0-0 8; Carmen Watson 3-6 2-4 8; Kailee McDonald 3-5 0-0 7; Deandra Vavra 1-3 5-6 7; Hillary Peterson 3-11 0-1 6; Vanessa Lebens 0-1 3-4 3; Grace Kennedy 1-1 0-0 2; Allyssa Lindberg 0-2 0-0 0; Britnee Blake 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 27-61 12-17 72.

3-point goals—UWRF 3-9 (Mehus 2-3; Van Wyhe 1-3; Siegle 0-1; Elton 0-1; Lueders 0-1), UWS 6-13 (Nett 2-2; Linzmeier 2-4; Urmanski 1-3; McDonald 1-2; Lindberg 0-1; Blake 0-1).

Fouled out—UWS-Watson. Rebounds—UWRF 39 (Gregorich, 14), UWS 36 (Watson 8). Assists—UWRF 9 (Van Wyhe 3), UWS 13 (Urmanski 4). Total fouls—UWRF 14, UWS 22. Technical fouls—None. A-147.

Men’s Basketball

UW-Superior 40-37—77

UW-River Falls 44-48—92

UW-Superior (7-10, 3-5 WIAC)

Johnquez Brooks 7-15 5-6 21; Jarrod Peterson 4-13 9-10 20; Trent Davis 6-11 4-4 18; Brendan Bauer 3-8 1-2 7; Austin Cahil 1-3 3-3 5; Aaron Corry 2-4 0-1 4; Bronson Byrne 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 24-60 22-26 77.

UW-River Falls (6-11, 1-7 WIAC)

Zach Peterson 8-16 8-8 26; UT Udo 7-9 9-11 23; Arik Smith 5-11 2-4 14; David Berthene 2-9 5-6 9; Will Taylor 3-6 3-5 9; Sam Meyer 2-3 0-0 6; Ben Gresmer 1-4 1-2 3; David Stanley 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 29-63 28-36 92.

3-point goals—UWS 7-29 (Peterson 3-10; Davis 2-5; Brooks 2-7; Corry 0-1; Lindblom 0-1; Cahill 0-2; Bauer 0-3), UWRF 6-18 (Meyer 2-2; Smith 2-6; Peterson 2-3; Gresmer 0-2; Lopez 0-1; Berthene 0-3; Udo 0-1).

Fouled out—None. Rebounds—UWS 35 (Peterson 8), UWRF 43 (Udo, 10). Assists—UWS 11 (Brooks 4), UWRF 11 (Smith 4). Total fouls—UWS 25, UWRF 22. Technical fouls—None. A-225.

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