Green Knights Close Strong at Beloit

From Sports Information Director, January 4, 2017 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

BELOIT - St. Norbert College closed the game on a 15-4 run en route to a 67-58 win over Beloit College in a Midwest Conference game at Flood Arena.

The Green Knights (6-4, 3-2 MWC) trailed 54-52 with 5:55 remaining but rallied to close the game out their 36th win in the last 38 meetings against the Buccaneers (2-8, 0-5).

Beloit led 54-52 after a Laura Panicali basket with 5:55 to go. St. Norbert tied it at 54-54 on a Jill Kleiman free throw with 4:02 to go. Carley Frauenhoff canned a 3-pointer with 3:10 left to put St. Norbert ahead for good. Brianna Byrne and Sarah Ratajczyk followed with layups on St. Norbert's next two possessions, the latter coming with 1:34 to go for a 61-34 edge.

The Buccaneers would get to within 62-58 on a Shelby Kline basket with 33 seconds left, but Jelena Ostojic's two free throws one second later salted the game away.

St. Norbert took early command, going on a 16-1 run to close out the first quarter for a 16-3 edge after 10 minutes. Beloit countered with a hot second quarter, making 12 of 16 field-goal attempts in the period to score 29 points and force a 32-32 halftime time.

Neither team led by more than four points in the third quarter, with St. Norbert finishing the period on a 7-0 run. The Green Knights trailed 43-40 with 5:29 left in the period. Ostojic hit a jumper at the 3:23 mark, followed by a 3-pointer from Byrne with 2:19 left. Ostojic then hit a pair of free throws with 58 seconds left to eventually lead 47-43 at the final quarter break.

St. Norbert shot 46.5 percent (20-for-43) from the floor and was 22-for-30 (73.3 percent) at the free-throw line. Byrne finished with 16 points while Ostojic added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists - all career highs.

Beloit shot 45.8 percent (22-for-48) from the floor and was plagued by 27 turnovers. Kline came off the bench to lead the Buccaneers with 25 points, while Panicali added 14 points.