WBB Preview: High flying offense off to Crown, then host UW-Whitewater

Crown Live Links:  Live Video  | Live Stats | Mark Thomas Interview

THIS WEEK'S GAMES:  The Blue Devils (3-2, 0-0 WIAC) will travel to St. Bonifacius, Minn., Wednesday, Nov. 28, to take on Crown College for a 7:30 p.m. game before returning home, Saturday, Dec. 1, when they will open conference play by hosting UW-Whitewater (3-1) at 6 p.m.

WEBCASTS:  All UW-Stout home games will be available in a live video stream by Blue Devil Video, with Adam "Big Country" Lehnertz  on the call. WMEQ 880 Radio, with Jason Kenyon, Rob Silvers, Dan Schultz, Jimmie Kaska or Jake Bostrom, will broadcast and provide a live audio stream of away conference games and all Saturday WIAC doubleheaders. Stout will provide Live Stats for all home games. Check the Blue Devil Webcast page or under details of the schedule page to see broadcasts and Live Stats available when Stout is on the road.

CAREER STATS: Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page to check out the UW-Stout career highs for points, rebounds and assists of each Blue Devil player.

THIS WEEK BY THE NUMBERS
32	Number of fouls committed by Stout against St. Scholastica.
32	Number of field goals made by Stout against St. Scholastica.
56	Crown turnovers forced by Stout in last year's game.
28	Steals recorded by Stout in last year's game against Crown, the most since 2000.
170	Points scored by Stout in last two games, most in two consecutive games since 2009-10 season.

THE BLUE DEVILS (3-2): After opening their 2012-13 campaign with their worst season-opening loss in 33 years, the young Blue Devils showed resilience by defeating Hamline University less than 24 hours later. After two wins at their home Thanksgiving tournament, the Blue Devils are above .500 for the first time in two years. After games of 80 and 90 points this weekend, the Blue Devils have upped their scoring average to 68 points, but are still being outscored by their opponents by four points on average. Brea Boomer leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game, and is coming off a career-high 20 points against Martin Luther College. Senior Whitney Rawdon trails Booomer closely at 12.6 points per contest, and leads the Blue Devils on the boards, pulling down 6.4 rebounds per game. After a slow start, Sami Schoeder got into the mix this weekend, scoring 24 points against St. Scholastica and is now averaging a healthy 9.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.  Katelynne Folkers, who joins Rawdon as the two players to start every game, is averaging 9.6 points and 6.0 boards per game and leads the team with 14 steals. | 2012-13 Statistics

LAST TIME OUT: In Stout's most recent outing this past Sunday, Brea Boomer scored a career-high 20 points and the Blue Devils never trailed from the opening tipoff, taking an 80-60 win over Martin Luther College, in the Quality Inn and Suites Turkey Shootout Sunday at Johnson Fieldhouse. Boomer tallied nine points in the first half - six points in the first eight minutes - as Stout ran off to a 41-25 halftime lead. The Blue Devils were aided in the first half by 16 points off the bench, compared to only five for Martin Luther. The Blue Devils' full court pressure also caused havoc for the Knights, who turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and 25 times for the game. Whitney Rawdon scored 15 points for Stout, while Rachel Hanley came off the bench to finish with a career-best 12 points. Rawdon dished off a career-best five assists. | Story and Stats

ABOUT CROWN COLLEGE: Located in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota near Minneapolis-St. Paul, Crown College is a private Christian college with more than 30 majors. Founded in 1916 as St. Paul Bible Institute, the school was renamed Crown College in 1992. Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, the co-creators of VeggieTales, met at Crown College before creating the series of children's Christian films. The Storm compete in six men's and five women's varsity sports.

SCOUTING CROWN COLLEGE (1-2): The Storm opened their season with a 78-63 win over Association Free Lutheran Bible School, followed by a 68-51 loss to Central College and most recently, a 102-54 loss to Waldorf College. As she did last year, Judy Mundt has paved the way for the Storm thus far. In their season opener, Mundt was just two steals shy of a triple-double as she scored 24 points and pulled down 10 boards. She is averaging over 20 points per game as she is the team's primary offensive threat.  | 2012-13 Statistics

CROWN'S LAST TIME OUT: In their most recent outing, Crown was simply dominated in a 102-54 loss to Waldorf College, their third of seven straight home games to start the season. Continuing what has been a common theme in the past, Judy Mundt led the Storm with 18 points on 7-for-26 shooting. Michelle Hyde pitched in 16 points, but the Storm were no match for Waldorf. Five Waldorf players scored in double digits as they shot over 50 percent as a team compared to Crown's 31 percent shooting clip. | Box Score

THE SERIES: The only meeting between UW-Stout and Crown occured last year, a 95-33 Blue Devil win.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In their season opener a year ago, Stout dominated the Storm in every aspect of the game, winning 95-33 in the teams' first ever meeting. The Blue Devils forced the Storm into 56 turnovers during the game, a total that has to rank high on an infamous list somewhere. Five minutes into the game, it looked like it could turn out to be a bigger blowout than it turned out to be.  The Blue Devils scored the first 13 points of the game with buckets from six different players.  Out of Crown's first 13 possessions over that span, they turned the ball over all 13 times, only attempting one shot, which resulted in an offensive rebound followed by a turnover. With under four minutes remaining in the first half, a layup from Katelynned Folkers stretched the Blue Devil lead to 30, their largest lead of the half.  Stout led, 43-14 at halftime. The second half brought much of the same; a lot of Crown turnovers and a lot of Stout points.  Stout improved their shooting percentage from 40 percent in the first half to 54 in the second, helped by a 55 percent clip from beyond the arc. Whitney Rawdon finished the game with 12 points, all of which came in the first half. 18 of 19 Blue Devils scored. Stout recorded 28 steals, their most steals since nabbing 34 on Dec. 20, 2000, against Union, NY. | Story and Stats

TRADITION: In 10 of the last 13 seasons, Stout has been either the first or second leading scoring team in the WIAC. In the final team standings, Stout has finished no lower in the conference than fourth in 11 of the last 14 years. Last year broke the trend, however, as they finished second to last in scoring and eight out of nine teams in the conference standings with a final league record of 3-13.

JOHNSON FIELDHOUSE: The “cozy confines of Johnson Fieldhouse” has proven to be quite an advantage for the Blue Devils. Since the 2000-01 season, Stout has posted a 119-32 (.788) record at home. In conference games at Johnson Fieldhouse since 2000-01, Stout has a 73-24 (.726) record. Throw in the conference tournament games, and Stout has an 87-24 (.784) overall record against WIAC opponents at home.

THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Mark Thomas (424-247) is in his 26th year as the coach of the Blue Devils. Thomas has led his teams to 10 national playoff berths, nine times in the NCAA. A six-time WIAC coach of the year, the Blue Devils have won five conference titles and four conference tournament championships. His teams have twice been to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Thomas is the first WIAC coach to have reached 400 career wins. Thomas also has the most wins of any Stout basketball coach, either men's or women's. Dwain Mintz coached the men's basketball program for 27 years and compiled a 385-280 record.

THE ROAD TO 400 WINS: Mark Thomas' first collegiate win came the second game of his first season when his Blue Devils, which had won only two games over the previous two years, defeated Mt. Senario, 73-44, in November, 1987. The wins came more often after that. Thomas got his 50th win, Feb. 28, 1991, 71-60, over Cardinal Stritch. The 100th win came Jan. 10, 1994, an 80-59 win over UM-Morris. No. 200 came at UW-River Falls, a 78-74 victory on Jan. 5, 2000. Thomas' 300th win came in overtime, a 76-68 decision over UW-Stevens Point, Jan. 29, 2005. Thomas' 400th win came at UW-Stevens Point, a 90-76 decision, Feb. 3, 2010.

CONFERENCES: Stout and UW-Whitewater are both members of the nine-team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) along with UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, and UW-Superior. Crown College is a member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC).

UP NEXT: Stout will stay at home, Wednesday, Dec. 5 to take on UW-Superior at 7 p.m. They will then travel to UW-Platteville, Saturday, Dec. 8 for a men's and women's doubleheader, and are scheduled to tip off against the Pioneers at 6 p.m.

UW-Stout Collegiate Career Highs (updated Nov. 27, 2012)

Ashley Deschampe - #2

• Points:
• Rebounds:
• Assists:

Caitlin Coombs - #5

• Points: 4 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 26, 2011
• Rebounds: 6 vs. Dubuque, Nov. 27, 2011
• Assists: 1 (3x)

Rachel Hanley - #10

• Points: 12 vs. Martin Luther, Nov. 25, 2012
• Rebounds: 4 vs. UW-Whitewater, Dec. 3, 2011
• Assists: 3 (3x) vs. Wartburg College, Nov. 18, 2011; vs. Northwestern College, Nov. 23, 2010; vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012

Whitney Rawdon - #11

• Points: 22 vs. Dubuque, Nov. 27, 2011
• Rebounds: 11 vs. Dubuque, Nov. 27, 2011
• Assists: 5 vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012

Haley Froehlich - #13

• Points: 7 vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012
• Rebounds: 7 vs. UW-La Crosse, Jan. 18, 2012
• Assists: 2 (2x) vs. UW-La Crosse, Feb. 8, 2012; vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012

Emily Blasius - #14

• Points:
• Rebounds:
• Assists:

Brea Boomer - #15

• Points: 20 vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012
• Rebounds: 13 vs. UW-Platteville, Feb. 4, 2012
• Assists: 2 (2x) vs. UW-La Crosse, Feb. 8, 2012; vs. UW-Platteville, Feb. 4, 2012

Maygan Mitchell - #22

• Points: 4 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012
• Rebounds: 3 vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 20, 2012
• Assists: 1 vs. DePauw, Nov. 16, 2012

Kayla Windt - #23

• Points: 17 vs. UW-La Crosse, Dec. 8, 2010
• Rebounds: 8 vs. Dubuque, Nov. 27, 2011
• Assists: 7 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012

Stephanie Pappas - #24

• Points:
• Rebounds:
• Assists:

Nikki Alexander - #25

• Points: 6 (4x) vs. UW-Platteville, Dec. 10, 2011; vs. St.Scholastica, Nov. 26, 2011; vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 20, 2012; vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012
• Rebounds: 5 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 26, 2011
• Assists: 2 (2x) vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 20, 2012; vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012

Alex Fosse - #31

• Points:
• Rebounds: 2 vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012
• Assists:

Sami Schoeder - #32

• Points: 31 vs. UW-Platteville, Jan. 8, 2011
• Rebounds: 10 vs. Hamline, Nov. 17, 2012
• Assists: 4 vs. Hamline, Nov. 17, 2012

Shelby Sterba - #33

• Points: 11 vs. UW-Superior, Dec. 7, 2011
• Rebounds: 6 (2x) vs. UW-Stevens Point, Jan. 11, 2012; vs. Lakeland College, Nov. 19, 2011
• Assists: 1 (4x)

Katelynne Folkers - #34

• Points: 16 vs. Hamline, Nov. 17, 2012
• Rebounds: 9 vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 20, 2012
• Assists: 5 (2x) vs. St. Cloud State, Nov. 20, 2012; vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012

Stephanie Kastens - #35

• Points: 2 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012
• Rebounds: 1 vs. Martin Luther College, Nov. 25, 2012
• Assists: 1 vs. St. Cloud State, Nov.

Alexa Belanger - #42

• Points: 6 vs. Crown College, Nov. 15, 2011
• Rebounds: 2 vs. UW-Whitewater, Dec. 3, 2011
• Assists:

Katie Nickles - #44

• Points: 9 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012
• Rebounds: 9 vs. St. Scholastica, Nov. 24, 2012
• Assists: 1 (4x)