UWS ROUNDUP: UWS women still perfect at home; track team hosts ‘Border Battle’

University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Kristen Nett has been named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball athlete of the week for the week of Feb. 5.

Nett is in the midst of a tremendous season for the No. 24-ranked Yellowjackets (18-4, 10-3) and has played a big role on a team that remains in the hunt for the conference championship with three games to play in the regular season.

Last week Nett led the Yellowjackets to a pair of wins.

On Wednesday she scored 16 points in 16 minutes as the ’Jackets routed UW-Stout 77-52 at home. She added 12 more points on Saturday as UWS took down UW-Oshkosh 66-58 in its final home game of the regular season.

For the week Nett scored 28 points, shooting 9-of-16 (.563) from the field, including 4-of-8 (.500) from 3-point range. She also had five rebounds, two assists and six steals in 47 minutes of action.

“I’m so excited for Kristen to get this award,” UWS coach Don Mulhern said. “She’s been through so much in the last year, with her injury and the long recovery and everything. All the while she never complained about a thing. She was here every day and was involved with the team even though she couldn’t play. She was here this summer and in the gym every day, working on her game and her shot and it has all paid off for her this year.

“Last week she was clutch for us. Against Stout she hit a couple of big 3’s when we were struggling and helped us get back on track and win that game. She’s a tremendous leader for our team and you just can’t say enough about her, her work ethic and her determination.”

Nett has started all 22 games this season and is averaging 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while leading the team in 3-pointers made (38). She is third on the team in points (200), minutes played (516) and rebounds (81) and second on the team in steals (36).

The Yellowjackets play at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game may be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.

Urmanski honored

UWS women’s basketball player Connie Urmanski has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District First-Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

A native of Edgar, Wis., Urmanski is the first Yellowjacket to receive Capital One All-District honors.

Athletically Urmanski currently sits third all-time in games played (97), fifth in points (1,092) and third in assists (276).

She already holds the school record for three pointers made (183) and free-throw percentage (.863).

This season Urmanski is a captain of the Yellowjackets who are 17-4 overall and tied for third in the WIAC with a 9-3 mark. Urmanski has started all 21 games to date and is second on the team in scoring. In the classroom Urmanski has a 3.98 grade point average and is majoring in elementary education.

“It has been an absolute privilege for me to be able to coach Connie over the last four years. She is absolutely one of the most talented and complete players that I have ever coached,” Mulhern said. “She brings so much to our team and her hard work and dedication is a big reason why we are achieving the success that we are this season.

“I know that it is a cliché, but as good of a player as Connie is, she is an even better person off the court and in the classroom. She has put an incredible amount of time and effort into her studies and I am thrilled that she is being recognized for that. She truly deserves this honor.”

First-team Academic All-District honorees now advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be selected in February.

Basketball

The UWS women’s and men’s basketball teams swept the UW-Oshkosh Titans Saturday afternoon at Mertz Mortorelli Gym

The Yellowjacket women won 66-48, while the UWS men won 76-73 in overtime.

The UWS women improved to 18-4 overall and 10-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, just a half game behind idle UW-Whitewater (16-5, 10-2).

UW-Stevens Point (18-4, 10-3) remained tied for second place with UWS with a 65-71 win over UW-La Crosse.

With Saturday’s win, the Yellowjacket women finished the regular season undefeated at home.

The UWS men host UW-River Falls at 7 p.m. today.

Women’s Game

UWS 66, UWO 58

UW-Oshkosh (17-4)

Katie Kitzke, 5-15 4-4 17; Katelyn Kuehl, 4-5 4-6 12; Megan Wenig, 3-10 0-0 9; Ashley Neustifter, 3-5 0-0 8; Sarah Stecker, 3-7 2-2 8; Alicia Tollefson, 2-9 0-0 4; Ashley Winterfeldt, 0-1 0-0 0; Heather Conroy, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 10-12 58.

UW-Superior (18-4)

Connie Urmanski, 6-13 4-5 18; Sally Linzmeier 4-10 5-6 13; Hillary Peterson, 6-12 0-0 12; Kristen Nett, 4-8 4-4 12; Deandra Vavra, 3-5 2-4 9; Allyssa Lindberg, 0-2 2-2 2; Britnee Blake, 0-1 0-0 0; Grace Kennedy, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 17-21 66.

UW-Oshkosh 26-32—58

UW-Superior 21-45—66

3-point goals—UWO 8-21 (Kitzke, 3-7; Wenig, 3-6; Neustifter, 2-3; Tollefson, 0-4; Kuehl, 0-1), UWS 3-12 (Urmanski, 2-6; Vavra, 1-1; Nett, 0-2; Lindberg, 0-1; Sally 0-2). Rebounds—UWO 33 (Stecker, 9), UWS 33 (Peterson, 9). Assists—UWO 14 (Wenig, 4), UWS 10 (Urmanski, 5). Total fouls—UWO 16, UWS 16. A-377

Men’s Game

UWS 76, UWO 73, OT

UW-Oshkosh (6-15)

Cory Nickel, 11-19 1-2 33; Dylan Wurtz, 6-15 0-0 17; Sean Wise, 2-5 3-4 7; Alex Olson, 2-5 0-0 5; Paul Volkman, 2-5 0-0 4; Sam Mageland, 1-1 1-2 3; Jade Royston, 1-5 0-0 2; Josh Hopfensperger, 1-3 0-2 2; Andre Wallace, 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 5-10 73.

UW-Superior (9-13)

Austin Cahil, 7-11 1-1 19; Bronson Byrne, 6-10 5-8 17; Jarrod Peterson, 5-15 4-5 16; Trent Davis, 4-7 4-8 12; Brendan Bauer, 1-8 2-2 4; Aaron Corry, 1-2 0-0 3; Walter Charlton, 1-2 1-1 3; Brian Lindblom, 1-1 0-0 2; Cole Schreiner, 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 17-25 76.

UW-Oshkosh 27-37-9—73

UW-Superior 37-27-12—76

3-point goals—UWO 16-36 (Nickel, 10-18; Wurtz, 5-12; Olson, 1-2; Royston, 0-2; Hopfensperger, 0-1; Volkman, 0-1), UWS 7-14 (Cahil, 4-5; Peterson, 2-6; Corry, 1-1; Bauer, 0-1; Davis, 0-1). Fouled out—UWO-Wallace. Rebounds—UWO 29 (Wise, 6), UWS 43 (Davis, 9; Byrne, 9). Assists—UWO 18 (Wise, 7), UWS 12 (Peterson, 3; Davis, 3). Total fouls—UWO 23, UWS 16. Technical fouls—None. A-217.

Men go 0-2

The UWS men attempted only 14 shots on goal in falling 2-1 to host UW-Stevens Point in a NCHA game Friday night at K.B. Willett Arena.

The Yellowjackets wrapped up the weekend with a 4-1 loss to St. Norbert at the Cornerstone Arena in DePere.

Point goalie Brandon Jaeger turned aside 13 shots — allowing only Brad Phenow’s second-period goal — as the Pointers improved to 13-8-1 overall and 7-7-1 in the league.

Drew Strandberg had 13 saves for the Yellowjackets.

Jerry Freismuth scored Point’s game-winning goal at 14:52 of the second period.

UWS dropped to 11-11-1 and 6-9-1 and is now tied with St. Scholastica (10-12-1, 6-9-1) four fourth place. Stevens Point (13-9-1, 7-8-1) is alone in third place.

UW-Eau Claire is first (18-3-2, 13-2-1) and St. Norbert is second (17-5-1, 11-4-1).

UWS hosts UW-River Falls on Friday and UWEC Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

UW-Superior 0 -1-0—1

UW-Stevens Point 1-1-0—2

First Period: 1. UWSP, Scott Henegar (Kevin Gibson, Andrew Kolb), 2:18 (pp).

Second Period: 2. UWS, Brad Phenow (Tanner Dion, Brett Wold), 12:06 (pp). 3. UWSP, Jerry Freismuth (Joshua Daley, Jon Brockmann), 14:52.

Third Period: No scoring.

Saves: Drew Strandberg, UWS 6-3-4—13. Brandon Jaeger, UWSP 1-8-4—13. Att: 1,099.

Saturday’s Game

UW-Superior 0-0-1—1

St. Norbert College 2-1-1—4

First Period: 1. SNC. Cody Keefer (Kyle Stroh, Carl Ekstrom), 3:18 (pp). 2. SNC, Keefer (Patrick McCadden), 18:12.

Second Period: 3. SNC, Brandon Hoogeboom (Connor Bradshaw, Ekstrom), 17:18.

Third Period: SNC, Stroh (Keefer, Tyler Zepeda), 0:20. 5. UWS, Pat Dalbec 15 (Tanner Dion), 3:20.

Saves: Drew Strandberg, UWS 7-5-3—15. David Jacobson, SNC 9-11-7—27. Att.: 989.

Track and Field

The UWS track and field team hosted its annual Border Battle Indoor Track and Field Meet Saturday at the Lydia Thering Fieldhouse in the Marcovich Wellness Center.

Minnesota Duluth, St. Scholastica, Bemidji State, St. Mary’s College and Minot State also took part in the meet.

Highlights for the host Yellowjackets included:

Nils Hansen winning the weight throw with a toss of 8.16 meters (59-feet-7), which is a personal record, new school record and is currently ranked No. 8 in NCAA DIII and No. 5 in the WIAC.

Kenny McGee set a new school record, a personal record and currently ranked No. 9 in the NCAA and fourth in the WIAC in the triple jump with a leap of 14.35 meters (47-1).

McGee also won the men’s long jump with a leap of 7 meters (22-11.75). His previoust best leap of 7.17 meters is still ranked fifth in NCAA and fourth in the WIAC.

Katie Capriglione and Vicki Vinokur finished first and third in the women’s weight throw, respectively. Capriglione threw the weight 16.95 meters (55-7.5) and Vinokur 14.94 meters (49-.25) for a personal record.

Other winners for UWS were Jared Anderson, 400 meters, and the 1,600 relay team.

Women's Hockey

After splitting a NCHA weekend series at St. Norbert, winning 2-1 Friday and losing 3-1 Saturday, the UWS women skated to a 1-1 overtime tie with Gustavus Adolphus Tuesday night at Wessman Arena.

Kelsey Firkus scored the Yellowjackets, now 12-7-2 overall, 9-6-1 in the NCHA.

On Friday at the Resch Pavilion in De Pere, Haley Olmstead’s sixth goal of the season with 3:20 remaining in the third period proved to be the game-winner for the Yellowjackets.

UWS goaltender Shanley Peters allowed only an unassisted goal by Zoe Kurth and stopped 26 shots for the Yellowjackets , who moved into a fourth-place tie in the conference.

Kaley Gibson made 40 saves for the Green Knights (10-9-2, 8-7-1), allowing only Kiara De Kezel’s first-period goal and Olmstead’s game-winner.

On Saturday, St. Norbert built a 3-0 lead before Lynne Larson scored for UWS with 4:33 remaining.

Megan Leikkari and Peters teamed up to make 23 saves for the Yellowjackets while Gibson stopped 44 shots for the Green Knights.

UWS plays at UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Pointers are in fourth place in the NCHA, two points ahead of the ’Jackets.

Friday’s Game

UW-Superior 1-0-1—2

St. Norbert 0-1-0—1

First Period: 1. UWS, Kiara DeKezel 6 (Lynne Larson), 3:12.

Second Period: 2. SNC, Zoe Kurth, 10:45.

Third Period: 3. UWS, Haley Olmstead 6 (Ashley Martin), 16:40.

Saves: UWS, Shanley Peters 9-9-8—26. SNC, Kaley Gibson, SNC 9-19-12—40. ATT: 123.

Saturday’s Game

UIW-Superior 0-0-1—1

St. Norbert 1-1-1—3

First Period: 1. SNC, Brooke Nicholson (Karissa Anderson, Danielle Rozon), 16:44.

Second Period: 2. SNC, Zoe Kurth (Tarraneh Dadgar), 6:32.

Third Period: 3. SNC, Henriette Ostergaard (Stephanie Slinde, Myranda Hayes), 2:33. 4. UWS, Lynne Larson (Dani Schultz, Kiara DeKezel), 12:27.

Saves: Megan Leikkari, UWS 0-10-10—20. Shanley Peters, UWS 13-0-0—13. Kaley Gibson, SNC 8-19-17—44.

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