St. Norbert Pulls Away From Grinnell

From Sports Information Director, January 17, 2009 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GRINNELL, Iowa - St. Norbert College methodically built its lead en route to posting a 72-51 win over Grinnell College in a Midwest Conference contest at Darby Gym.

The Green Knights improved to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the MWC, giving head coach Connie Tilley her 497th career victory. Grinnell dropped to 2-10 overall and 1-5 in the league.

Grinnell held a 12-11 lead on a Jodi Watkins 3-pointer with 13:03 left in the first half. St. Norbert responded with a 12-0 run to take a 23-12 lead with 9:05 left in the half. Victoria Le Fevre's layup gave the Green Knights the lead, with Denise Heuser and Stefanie Bunday connecting on consecutive 3-pointers for a 19-12 advantage.

St. Norbert led 29-18 with 5:40 left in the first half but closed the period out on an 11-2 run. Heuser's 3-pointer started the run, while Krista Pelky also had a pair of baskets during the stretch.

Grinnell opened the second half on a 3-pointer by Mallory Scharf, but would get no closer than that 17-point deficit. The Green Knights led by as many as 27 points in the second half, holding a 52-25 lead with 12:51 left to play.

Twelve different players cracked the scoring column for St. Norbert, with Heuser's 15 points and Le Fevre's 11 the only two to tally double figures. Bunday, Pelky and Morgan Strasser all had eight points apiece for the Green Knights, which shot 44.3 percent (31-for-70) from the field. St. Norbert had just 10 turnovers.

Grinnell shot 34 percent from the floor, making 17 of 50 shots. The Pioneers, who had 24 turnovers, did not have a scorer reach double figures. Scharf finished with a team-high nine points for Grinnell.