The University of Wisconsin-Superior women’s basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference with pair of wins over the weekend at Mertz Mortorelli Gym.
The Yellowjackets defeated Minnesota Morris 81-72 Friday evening then cruised past Crown 74-40 Saturday afternoon.
In a game billed as the UMAC Game of the Week, UWS and Morris began the weekend with 6-0 conference records, but it looked like UWS was going to cruise to its 23rd straight league win by scoring the first 10 points of the game.
Hailey Kontny had a big hand in Superior’s quick start with the first six points. The former Spartan was one of four ’Jackets to finish in double figures in the game with 15 points.
“We definitely had the start we wanted and came out with a lot of energy,” Kontny said. “A lot of times we start out slow and dominate in the second half. But we want to start come out right away and play a whole 40 minutes.”
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Eva Reinertsen led UWS with a game-high 21 points. The freshman from Duluth Denfeld was just 2-of-6 shooting in the first half, including 0-for-3 on 3-point attempts, but she found her range in the third quarter and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
After battling back to tie the game at 16 and 20 early in the second quarter, Morris eventually took a 40-38 lead on three straight free throws two minutes into the third quarter.
Reinertsen followed by scoring 11 of her 21 points during a 3-minute span, including three 3-pointers.
The scoring spree was part of an 18-3 run that ballooned Superior’s lead to 56-43 with around three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“It’s all about confidence,” Reinertsen said. “When the first one fell I got excited and they kept falling after that.
“This was a huge win for us, everybody played well and we got a big win.”
UWS eventually led 57-48 after three quarters and continued to control the fourth quarter, which included taking a 77-64 lead on a Justine Larson 3-pointer and never allowing Morris to get any closer that seven points.
“That was a classic first-place game, they’re a very good team,” UWS coach Don Mulhern said. “The third quarter has been good for us, but we had to play hard because they played well.
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“Hailey started the game off just unreal, attacking, finishing, making plays, she was just phenomenal. Eva had a cold shooting (first half), but she took good shots and shooters got to shoot. Then she came out and lit it up.”
Larson finished with 15 points, five assists and two steals and Hannah Norlin also had 20 points and five rebounds.
Kendra Raths led Morris with 14 points, 12 rebounds and a blocked shot.
Morris thrived at the free-throw line, making 28-of-33 attempts, compared to just 11-of-19 for UWS.
UWS extended its UMAC win streak to 24 games with its win Saturday.
For the third straight game Reinertsen led UWS offensively, scoring 15 points, which included three more 3-pointers.
Norlin added 13 points and seven rebounds; Brittany Laehn had 13 points and five steals; and Bailee Bartunek chipped in with seven points, four steals and seven rebounds.
Molly Greenfield had nine points for Crown (0-16, 0-8).
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“We came out and started playing real basketball this weekend,” Kontny said. “We showed to the rest of the conference we can shoot, we can get to the basket, we can get the rebounds and play a whole 40 minutes.
“When some of the girls started lightning it up out there, they had to cover all five of us. This proved that we are an all-around team, not just one or two players.”
UWS hosts North Central Friday and Northwestern Saturday.
’JACKET JOTTINGS: Reinertsen finished 8-of-16 shooting Friday night, including 5-of-11 on 3-pointers. She also had two assists, a blocked shot and a steal. … Kontny had a team-high eight rebounds and two steals. … UWS had a 33-16 advantage in points off turnovers, 30-16 in points in the paint, and 23-14 on second-chance points. … Morris had a 34-24 advantage in points off the bench.
Minn. Morris (9-5, 6-1 UMAC)
Kendra Raths 3-7 6-6 14; Mauren Thiesen 3-7 4-5 12; Abby Van Kempen 4-7 2-2 10; Jordan Halvorson 3-3 3-4 10; Bailey Miller 2-5 2-2 8; Elli Stevenson 2-10 3-4 8; Tori Holt 1-4 4-6 6; Courtney Dague 0-0 4-4 4; Emma Atkinson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 28-33 72.
UW-Superior (11-4, 7-0 UMAC)
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Eva Reinertsen 8-16 0-0 21; Hannah Norlin 8-16 4-7 20; Justine Larson 6-9 2-2 15; Hailey Kontny 7-19 1-2 15; Amelia Leger 1-3 2-4 4; Bailee Bartunek 1-2 1-2 3; Jade Tucker 1-3 0-0 2; Megan Aho 0-1 1-2 1; Emily Carpenter 0-3 0-0 0; Brittany Laehn 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 32-75 11-19 81.
Minn. Morris....... 14 20 14 24 - 72
UW-Superior...... 16 18 23 24 - 81
3-point goals-Morris 8-21 (Thiesen 2; Raths 2; Miller 2; Halvorson; Stevenson, UWS 6-20 (Reinertsen 5-11; Larson). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Morris 35, UWS 37 (Kontny 8). Assists-Morris 10, UWS 14 (Larson 5). Total fouls-Morris 18, UWS 27. A-214.
Crown (0-16, 0-8 UMAC)
Molly Greenfield 3-5 0-0 9; Andrea Besa 3-8 2-2 8; Miranda Brueggeman 3-5 1-1 8; Kayla Carter 3-5 0-0 6; Madison Stricklin 2-5 0-0 4; Patricia Gibson 1-1 1-2 3; Damonyka Roberts 0-6 2-2 2. Totals 15-53 6-7 40.
UW-Superior (12-4, 8-0 UMAC)
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Eva Reinertsen 6-8 0-0 15; Hannah Norlin 6-10 1-4 13; Brittany Laehn 6-12 0-1 13; Justine Larson 3-4 1-2 7; Amelia Leger 3-6 1-1 7; Megan Aho 2-3 0-0 4; Jade Wong 2-2 0-0 4; Bailee Bartunek 2-5 0-0 4; Hailey Kontny 2-8 0-0 4; Jade Tucker 1-3 0-0 2; Etta Sorenson 0-2 1-2 1; August Gordon 0-3 0-0 0; Morgan Nepstad 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-68 4-10 74.
Crown.................. 17 4 11 8 - 40
UW-Superior...... 15 17 27 15 - 74
3-point goals-Crown 4-14 (Greenfield 3; Brueggeman), UWS 4-9 (Reinertsen 3-4; Laehn 1-2; Leger 0-1; Gordon 0-1; Nepstad 0-1). Rebounds-Crown 33, UWS 43 (Bartunek 7; Norlin 7). Assists-Crown 8 (Besa 2), UWS 20 (Aho 5). Total fouls-Crown 13, UWS 12. A-238.
UMAC - Women’s Basketball
UW-Superior (12-4)................................ 8-0
Minn. Morris (10-5)................................ 7-1
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Northwestern (9-6)................................. 6-2
Bethany Lutheran (7-8).......................... 5-3
Martin Luther (5-10)............................... 4-4
St. Scholastica (4-11)........................... 3-5
Northland (6-10)..................................... 2-6
North Central (3-11)............................... 1-7
Crown (0-16).......................................... 0-8
