Women Cagers Clinch Home Court for MWC Tournament

From Sports Information Director, February 16, 2008 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - The St. Norbert College women's basketball team clinched home-court advantage for the Midwest Conference Tournament following a pulsating 73-70 win over Carroll College at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights won their seventh-straight game in improving to 18-4 overall and 14-1 in the MWC. Carroll, which had won nine straight coming into the St. Norbert game, fell to 17-4, 11-3.

St. Norbert led 63-55 with 5:15 left to play following a Rachel Hermus basket, but then had to hold on. Carroll's All-American guard Crystal Hoewisch netted a conventional three-point play followed by a Kim Wickert basket to cut the deficit to 63-60 just a minute later.

Hoewisch converted putback following a missed Wickert free throw to cut the deficit to 63-62 with 4:16 left. Carroll would get to within one point on two more occasions, the last at 69-68 with 53 seconds left.

Linsey Propson gave St. Norbert a three-point cushion on a driving layup with 26 seconds left. Stefanie Bunday made 1 of 2 free throws with 16 seconds left after a Carroll miss. Hoewisch scored a runner with 8 seconds left to make the score 72-70.

Propson made 1 of 2 free throws with 6 seconds left for a 73-70 lead. Carroll took the ball into the frontcourt, and the ball was fumbled away inside the three-point arc as time expired.

Propson led St. Norbert in her final regular-season home game, scoring 16 points. Hermus added 12 points, while Morgan Strasser and Emily Otzelberger chipped in 11 points each. St. Norbert shot 52.8 percent from the floor, making 28 of 53 field goals.

Hoewisch pumped in a game-high 23 points and played all 40 minutes. Wickert added 15 points, Lyndsey Seewald 14 points and Leah Lemke 12 points. Lemke also played all 40 minutes for the Pioneers, who shot 47.3 percent (26-for-55) from the floor.