Strong Start and Finish Push St. Norbert Past Widener

From Sports Information Director, December 18, 2016 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Norbert College started and closed strong as the Green Knights finished 2-0 at the St. Pete Classic with a 67-50 win over Widener University at Eckerd College's McArthur Center.

The Green Knights (5-4) scored 23 first-quarter points to lead by 10 points after the first 10 minutes. St. Norbert then outscored the Pride 15-5 in the fourth quarter to close out the victory.

St. Norbert made seven of its first nine field-goal attempts to build a 14-9 lead midway through the first period. The Green Knights closed out the period on a 6-2 run, getting baskets from Macie Zurfluh, Jelena Ostojic and Regan Carmichael to lead 23-13 after the first quarter.

The Green Knights led 34-23 with 2:28 left in the second quarter following a Carmichael 3-pointer, but Widener closed the frame out on a 10-2 run to trail just 36-33 at halftime.

Widener trailed by one point on three different occasions in the third quarter, but could never wrest the lead from St. Norbert. The Pride trailed 46-45 with 2:44 left in the period before St. Norbert closed the quarter on a 6-0 run. Ostojic converted a basket, Sarah Neumann made a pair of free throws and Brianna Byrne finished a layup for a 52-45 lead after 30 minutes.

St. Norbert closed out the win with an 8-1 run in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, with six points coming from Carmichael.

The Green Knights shot 54.7 percent (29-for-53) from the floor. Carmichael led St. Norbert with 15 points, while Sarah Rataczyk added 12 points, Neumann 11 points and Byrne 10 points.

Widener shot 16-for-54 (29.6 percent) from the floor, including 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) in the fourth quarter. Julia Venturelli led the Pride with 15 points.