Yellowjacket Roundup: Early exits for ’Jacket hockey, hoop teams

Wessman Arena will host the NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Championships in March, unfortunately the host UWS Yellowjackets won’t be participating.

The Yellowjackets were eliminated from the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs with a 6-5 loss to the St. Norbert Green Knights Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena.

The Green Knights also won Friday’s game 5-4 to sweep the quarterfinal series and end Superior’s season with a record of 16-9-2.

St. Norbert takes record of 16-9-2 into the semifinals of the NCHA’s O’Brien’s Cup tournament.

UWS led 3-2 after the first period Saturday, then 4-3 midway through the second, but SNC scored three straight goals for a 6-4 lead early in the third period, then held off the Yellowjackets, who made it a one-goal game with Kara DeKezel’s power-play goal with 5:05 remaining.

UWS pulled its goalie with a little more than a minute remaining, but needing to score two goals and get the win and force a mini-game was too much for the Yellowjacket to overcome.

The teams took turns scoring until the score was tied 4-4 when St. Norbert’s Zoe Kurth scored short-handed 14:01 into the second period.

Hennriette Ostergaard scored with 4:27 left in the second period and Karissa Anderson scored on a power play 8:55 into the third to give St. Norbert a 6-4 lead.

Kelsey Firkus, Haley Omstead and Chelsey Wierschem scored in the first period and Bailey Lane scored in the second period for UWS.

Kurth, on the power play, and Ali Parker scored for the Knights in the first period.

Kaley Gibson had 16 saves for SNC and Megan Leikkari had 12 for UWS.

In the opening game Friday, Ostergaard scored a power-play goal with 2:40 remaining in the third period to give St. Norbert College a 5-4 win.

Ostergaard also scored the Green Knights’ first goal, while Anderson, Andrea Senne and Laurel Hill added tallies for St. Norbert.

Gibson stopped 25 shots in goal.

Olmstead had a pair of goals for the Yellowjackets, while goalie Megan Leikkari made 18 saves.

Women’s hoops

UW-Whitewater used an 11-3 run at the end of the first half and a 9-0 spurt to open the second half to break away from a tight game and defeat the UWS women’s basketball team 80-71 in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament semifinal Friday night in Whitewater.

The top-seeded Warhawks trailed 27-24 in the first half before holding the Yellowjackets (19-8) to one field goal in the next 6:57 to take a 44-30 lead.

Courtney Kumerow led four Whitewater players in double figures with 18 points and added nine rebounds. Whitewater owned a 43-31 rebound advantage. Lisa Palmer (15), Mary Merg (14) and Kaitlyn Thill (12) also were in double figures.

Connie Urmanski scored 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, while UWS teammate Kristen Nett added 16.

The Yellowjackets will have to wait to find out if they receive an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III national tournament.

The Warhawks went on to lose to UW-Stevens Point in the championship game, 76-71 in overtime.

’JACKET JOTTINGS: Urmanski set school records for games played (103), 3-pointers made (197) and free-throw percentage (.863). She is second all-time in assists (270) and fifth in points (1,183). … Sally Linzmeier set new school records for points (447) and steals (90) in a season. … Kailee McDonald reached 100 games played for her career, tied for second all-time and Hillary Peterson is tied for fifth in games played (95) and is third in blocks (71). Peterson also led the WIAC in blocks per-game this season (1.54).

UW-SUPERIOR (19-8)

Connie Urmanski 7-11 1-1 19; Krisent Nett 4-11 5-6 16; Carmen Watson 5-9 1-1 11; Sally Linzmeier 4-10 1-2 9; Hillary Peterson 4-7 0-0 8; Deandra Vavra 2-6 4-5 8; Britnee Blake 0-1 0-0 0; Vanessa Lebens 0-1 0-0 0; Kailee McDonald 0-1 0-0 0; Grace Kennedy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 12-15 71.

UW-WHITEWATER (21-5)

Courtney Kumerow 6-9 6-8 18; Lisa Palmer 5-9 5-6 15; Mary Merg 4-10 5-7 14; Kaitlyn Thill 2-10 6-9 12; Abbie Reeves 2-6 2-2 6; Amy Mandrell 3-6 0-0 6; Emily McCullick 2-2 0-0 4; Megan Theune 1-4 0-0 3; Sam Quandt 1-3 0-0 2; Katie Burton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 24-32 80.

UW-Superior 30-41—71

UW-Whitewater 35-45—80

3-point goals—UW-Superior 7-12 (Urmanski 4-5; Nett 3-5; Linzmeier 0-2), UW-Whitewater 4-15 (Thill 2-6; Theune 1-2; Merg 1-4; Quandt 0-1; Reeves 0-2). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—UW-Superior 31 (Linzmeier 9), UW-Whitewater 43 (Kumerow 9). Assists—UW-Superior 10 (Linzmeier 4), UW-Whitewater 16 (Thill 7). Total fouls—UWS 24, UWW 17. Technical fouls—None. A-290.

Softball

UWS opened the season by going 1-4 over the weekend at the Superior Dome in Marquette, Mich.

The Yellowjackets lost 6-0 to Hope College, 6-2 to Edgewood College and 5-3 to Lake Superior State on Friday, then lost to Dubuque 6-3 before defeating Milwaukee School of Engineering 9-1 on Saturday.

After being shut out in the first game, Whitney Brugman belted a solo home run for the Yellowjackets against Edgewood, while Lindsay Garay knocked in two runs with a homer of her own against LSS.

In the loss to Dubuque, Superior got RBI singles from Melissa Clark and Garay, while Amanda LeBard took the loss, surrendering six runs (five earned) on four walks and four strikeouts in six innings of work.

In their only win, the Yellowjackets scored in the first inning when Kristen Haider scored when Garay reached on an error.

The Raiders responded with a run in the second inning on Mikala Wendt’s RBI single.

UWS took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Katie Wilke tripled to score Liz Jezierski, who walked and then scored on Elle Niemela’s home run.

In the third inning, Brugman led off with a triple and scored on Summer Lindelien’s single.

The Yellowjackets came up big offensively in the sixth inning. Haider, Garary and Brugman led off with walks and Clark was hit by a pitch.

Lindelien followed with an RBI single and Jezierski and Kelsey Nelson drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks.

Nicolle Gross pitched a complete game giving up a run on seven hits while walking one and striking out two.

The Yellowjackets (1-4) return to action March 15 in Fort Myers, Fla. Their first games are at 9 a.m. against Wheaton College and 11 a.m. against Rockford College.

Men’s hoops

Chris Hortman came off the bench to score 21 points to lead UW-Stout to a 78-64 win over the UWS men’s basketball team in a WIAC tournament quarterfinal game last Tuesday night at Johnson Fieldhouse in Menomonie.

Stout is now 4-0 all-time at home in the WIAC tournament.

Hortman hit 7-of-17 field goals, including three 3-pointers, and Alex Oman added 16 points for the third-seeded Blue Devils (20-6).

Jarrod Peterson led UWS (9-17) with 21 points, while Brendan Bauer added 14 and Trent Davis had 13.

Stout went on to lose 63-55 to UW-Whitewater, which then defeated UW-Platteville in the championship game, 66-55.

UW-Superior (9-17)

Jarrod Peterson 7-14 5-7 21; Brendan Bauer 5-7 1-2 14; Trent Davis 5-14 2-6 13; Aaron Corry 4-5 1-3 10; Walter Charlton 1-2 0-2 2; Cole Schreiner 1-1 0-0 2; Johnquez Brooks 0-6 2-4 2. Totals 23-49 11-24 64.

UW-Stout (20-6)

Chris Hortman 7-17 4-4 21; Alex Oman 6-15 2-4 16; Jarvis Ragland 4-9 5-6 14; Josh Kosloske 4-6 3-5 11; Aaron Jenny 4-8 0-1 8; Erik Olson 2-6 2-2 6; Jay Higgins 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 28-62 16-24 78.

UW-Superior 27-37—64

UW-Stout 31-47—78

3-point goals—Superior 7-19 (Bauer 3-4; Peterson 2-6; Corry 1-1; Davis 1-5; Brooks 0-3), Stout 6-19 (Hortman 3-8; Oman 2-6; Ragland 1-4; Jenny 0-1). Fouled out—Superior-Bauer, Stout-Higgins. Rebounds—Superior 39 (Corry 11), Stout 30 (Kosloske,6). Assists—Superior 12 (Davis 3; Brooks 3; Peterson 3), Stout 13 (Olson 7). Total fouls—Superior 21, Stout 18. Technical fouls—None. A-584.

WIAC Men’s Basketball Tourney

Tuesday’s First Round

UW-Stout 78, UW-Superior 64

UW-Platteville 60, UW-La Crosse 58

Thursday’s Semifinals

UW-Platteville 60, UW-Stevens Pt 56

UW-Whitewater 63, UW-Stout 59

Saturday’s Championship

UW-Whitewater 66, UW-Platteville 55

WIAC Women’s Basketball Tourney

First Round

UW-Stevens Pt 67, UW-Eau Claire 77

UW-Superior 63, UW-River Falls 46

Semifinals

UW-Whitewater 80, UW-Superior 71

UW-Stevens Pt 59, UW-Oshkosh 50

Sunday’s Championship

UW-Stevens Point 76, UW-Whitewater 71, OT

NCHA – Men’s Peters Cup

First-Round Series

Friday, Feb. 15

St. Scholastica 4, Superior 2

Stevens Point 2, River Falls 1

St. Norbert 3, Stout 2

No. 1 UW-Eau Claire, bye

Saturday, Feb. 16

St. Scholastica 2, Superior 1, CSS wins series 2-0

River Falls 4, Stevens Point 1, UWRF wins mini-game 3-1

St. Norbert 3, Stout 2, SNC wins series 2-0

Saturday’s Semifinals

St, Norbert 2, St. Scholastica 1

UW-Eau Claire 7, UW-River Falls 2

Saturday, March 2

Peters Cup Championship

St. Norbert (22-5-1) at UW-Eau Claire (20-4-2)

NCHA – Women’s O’Brien Cup

First-Round Playoffs

Friday, Feb. 22

St. Norbert 5, Superior 4

St. Scholastica 2, Lake Forest 0

Adrian 3, Stevens Point 0

River Falls 5, Eau Claire 4

Saturday, Feb. 23

St. Norbert 6, Superior 5, SNC wins series 2-0

St. Scholastica 2, Lake Forest 1, CSS wins series 2-0

Stevens Point 2, Adrian 1 (UWSP wins mini-game 2-1, OT)

River Falls 5, Eau Claire 2, UWRF wins series 2-0

Saturday’s Semifinal Games

At UW-River Falls

St. Scholastica (14-9-4) vs. St. Norbert (16-9-2), 3:05 p.m.

River Falls (20-5-2) vs. Stevens Point (12-12-3), 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, March 3

Championship Game

Semifinal winners, 4:05 p.m.

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