Green Knights Drop Nashville Opener to UW-Eau Claire

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, December 29, 2018 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - St. Norbert College lost its opening game at the Music City Classic, coming up on the short end of a 71-60 decision to UW-Eau Claire at Trevecca Nazarene University's Trojan Fieldhouse.

The Green Knights had a hot start, opening up a nine-point lead just 4 1/2 minutes into the game. Macie Zurfluh canned a pair of 3-pointers to open the St. Norbert scoring. Christine Olijnyk followed with seven points, including a pair of free throws to put the Green Knights ahead 17-8 with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Eau Claire cut its deficit down to 17-13 but Olijnyk answered with a 3-pointer to put St. Norbert up 20-13 at the 2:28 mark. Zurfluh's layup with 34 seconds left in the quarter gave the Green Knights a 24-19 lead at the end of the period.

Olijnyk's jumper to open the second quarter gave the Green Knights a seven-point lead, but an 8-0 run by Eau Claire on the Blugolds' next three possessions tightened the game. Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the second quarter, with the game deadlocked 36-36 at halftime.

St. Norbert led 41-36 early in the third quarter on a Zurfluh 3-pointer, but Eau Claire answered with a 7-1 run. The Green Knights would trail 45-44 with 2:10 left in the period after a pair of Sarah Ratajczyk free throws, but Eau Claire would rattle off nine straight points to end the third quarter with a 54-44 lead. St. Norbert would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

St. Norbert shot 37.5 percent (21-for-56) from the floor. Zurfluh and Olijnyk had 15 points apiece, while Sarah Neumann added 12 points.

Eau Claire shot 40 percent (26-for-65) from the floor. Hallee Hoeppner led the Blugolds with 25 points, while Kelsey Bakken added 22 points.