Yellowjackets 75, St. Scholastica 63

After starting out the second half of the 2013-2014 season with a win over Northland College Monday night, the UW-Superior women's basketball team hoped to make it 2-for-2 following the break as they hosted border rivals St. Scholastica Tuesday evening.

And the Yellowjackets did just that, overcoming a slow start with a strong final 30 minutes on the way to posting a 75-63 victory at Mertz Mortorelli Gymansium.

With the win, the Yellowjackets won their fourth straight game and improved to 6-4 on the season while dropping St. Scholastica to 4-6 for the campaign.

UW-Superior got off to a tough start, missing their first 15 shots from the field to find themselves trailing 18-2 at the 13:12 mark after a three-pointer by St. Scholastica's Brittani Brennan.

Dana Karlstad (Eleva, Wis./Eleva-Strum) finally knocked down a three-pointer with 12:26 left to bring the Yellowjackets to within 18-5 before a 13-5 burst cut UW-Superior's deficit to 23-18 following two free throws by Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) with 8:11 remaining in the first half.

Linzmeier scored four points during the run, all on free throws, while three baskets from Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) and two more from Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) helped bring the Yellowjackets back within striking distance.

The Saints responded quickly, getting a three-point shot and layup from Elena Huber to up the margin to 28-18 with 6:29 showing on the clock.

But the Yellowjackets continued to chip away at the lead, going on an 8-1 run in the final 2:59 to trail only 37-34 at the break following two more free throws by Linzmeier in the final five seconds of the opening half.

UW-Superior started aggressively in the second half, getting two baskets from Lebens and a jumper from Linzmeier to take the lead at 40-37 with 17:51 remaining in regulation.

Danica Shellbach hit two free throws in the next possession to cut the Yellowjackets' edge to 40-39 at the 17:00 mark of the second half.

The Yellowjackets responded with an 8-2 burst for a 48-41 advantage on a Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) layup with 15:23 left on the clock.

St. Scholastica eventually cut the deficit to 56-54 on a layup by Brennan with 8:38 remaining in regulation.

UW-Superior upped the margin to 62-54 however with 4:23 left on consecutive baskets by Linzmeier, Liljander and Vavra.

From there, the Saints never got closer than five points as the Yellowjackets connected on six straight free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the victory.

Offensively, Linzmeier had 18 points and 15 rebounds while Liljander shared game-high scoring honors with 18 points as well.  Lebens meanwhile had 16 points while Hadley Skalmoski (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) added 12 rebounds for the Yellowjackets.

St. Scholastica was led by Erin Frase with 14 points. Kelsey Sorenson added 13 points for the Saints.

The Yellowjackets will host UW-Platteville at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.  Opening tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game can be heard on 91.3 FM KUWS on a tape delay basis starting at 7 p.m.   Matt Johnson will have the call.