Green Knights Pull Away to Take Control of MWC

From Sports Information Director, January 31, 2015 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College opened its lead in the Midwest Conference standings to two games following a 75-62 win over Carroll University on Connie Tilley Court at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights (15-3, 12-1 MWC) lead the second-place Pioneers (13-5, 10-3) by two games with five left to play. St. Norbert also holds the tiebreaker with Carroll after sweeping the regular-season series.

St. Norbert looked to be in dire straits after a 7-0 Carroll run gave the Pioneers a 20-13 lead with 8:29 left in the first half. St. Norbert scored six quick points to get back into the game, getting hoops from Rachel Hagge, Jill Kleiman and Brianna Byrne to trail 20-19 with 6:53 to go.

The Green Knights hung around until taking a 28-26 lead with 2:35 left on a pair of Tasha Giese free throws. Byrne's basket with 51 seconds left in the half put St. Norbert up 30-28 at halftime.

Carroll's Breann Maryanski knotted the score 30-30 on the Pioneers' first possession of the second half, but St. Norbert went on a 19-4 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes to take a 49-34 lead. Byrne connected on a jumper and 3-pointer to start the run, followed by a conventional three-point play from Tasha Giese for a 38-30 lead. Hagge and Byrne hit consecutive 3-pointers later in the run, and Giese's layup put St. Norbert up 15 with 14:04 left.

The Pioneers would get to within eight at 55-47 with 6:26 to go, but consecutive baskets by Heidi Van Sistine put St. Norbert up 12 and clinched the win.

Van Sistine finished with 23 points to lead St. Norbert, while Byrne added 17 points and Hagge 14 points. The Green Knights shot 30-for-54 (55.6 percent) from the floor and had 28 assists on their 30 field goals.

Carroll shot 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the floor. Malory Christenson led the Pioneers with 23 points, while Maryanski added 22 points.