Yellowjackets 72, River Falls 55

With a potential home playoff game hanging in the balance, the UW-Superior women's basketball team needed a big performance against UW-River Falls Wednesday night.

And the Yellowjackets came through in fine fashion, rebounding from an early double-digit deficit to pull away in the second half for an impressive 72-55 win over the Falcons at the Karges Center.

Not only did UW-Superior claim their second straight victory, they also clinched their third straight WIAC Tournament bid and upped their overall record to 14-10 while also going to 7-8 in league play.

 The Falcons meanwhile dropped to 6-18 overall and 4-11 in WIAC play, eliminating UW-River Falls from playoff contention.

UW-Superior started slowly, missing their first eight shots and 12 of their first 14 to fall behind 12-2 with 15:14 left in the opening half on a driving layup by Katie Messman.

The Yellowjackets began rallying back shortly thereafter, getting five quick points from Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) and two free throws from Allyssa Lindberg (Marquette, Mich./Marquette) to cut the deficit to 14-9 with 11:58 remaining on the clock.

UW-River Falls upped the lead to 21-12 on a layup by Ali Clark at the 10:01 mark before the Yellowjackets went on a 12-2 run over the next 5:28 to take their first lead of the game at 24-23 on two free throws by Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) with 4:33 left in the first half.

The Falcons briefly retook the lead at 25-24 on another basket by Clark with 4:14 remaining in the opening frame.

But UW-Superior came right back, getting a jumper from Linzmeier for a 26-25 Yellowjackets lead and then went on to outscore UW-River Falls 10-7 for the rest of the half for a 36-32 lead following Hadley Skalmoski (Neenah, Wis./Neenah)'s layup with 47 seconds left in the frame.

The Yellowjackets continued to surge after halftime, getting six quick points from Linzmeier and a short jumper from Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) to take a 44-32 lead with 17:40 remaining in regulation.

UW-Superior steadily pulled away from there, upping the margin to 49-34 on a three-pointer by Britnee Blake (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) with 15:30 left before taking their largest lead of the game at 62-40 on a driving layup by Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) at the 9:29 mark of the second half.

The Falcons never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way as the Yellowjackets connected on 26-of-29 from the free throw line for the game to maintain a comfortable lead throughout.

Linzmeier led the way for the Yellowjackets, going 14-for-14 from the free throw line in scoring a game-high 27 points while collecting 10 rebounds.  Liljander added 16 points for UW-Superior.

The Falcons were led by Cassy Saxton and Clark who each finished with 10 points.

UW-Superior closes out the regular season Saturday with a road game against UW-Oshkosh on Saturday.  Opening tipoff from the Kolf Sports Center is scheduled for 3 p.m.  The game can be heard locally on 91.3 FM KUWS with Matt Johnson on the call.