Bench delivers in big win over St. Norbert

UW-Stout 82, St. Norbert College 50

DE PERE (November 16, 2019) - The UW-Stout starting five gave the rest of the Blue Devil team a lead and the bench took advantage of their opportunity scoring more than half of Stout's total points in an 82-50 win over St. Norbert College in the consolation game of the St. Norbert Tip-Off Tournament Saturday.

The Blue Devil bench combined to score 42 of Stout's 82 points to push the Blue Devils' season record to 2-1. 

Stout held a 20-14 lead at the end of the first period, then raced out to a 23 point lead, 45-22, at halftime. Stout outscored St. Norbert 25-8 in the second quarter to take command. Stout maintained the 23 point lead at the end of the third quarter, 64-41, and captured the 32 point win,the Blue Devils' most lopsided win since an 83-40 win over Crown College last December.

Lizzy Olsem came off the bench to score a career-best 10 points. Haylee Yaeger played significant minutes, coming in only three minutes into the game and tallied 19 total minutes, scoring seven points, pulling down eight rebounds and finishing with five assists. Molly Wampler, a transfer from Hamline, saw her first playing time as a Blue Devil, scoring six points over six minutes. Freshmen Lindsey Johnson, Courtney Crouch and Katie Christopherson scored college-bests of five, four and five points, respectively. Freshman Erin O'Brien didn't score, but did pull down five rebounds.

Senior starter Amber Fabeck led the Blue Devils with 12 points. Shannan Watkins, who was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 27 points Friday night, added nine points. Emily Jacques had seven points and seven rebounds.

The Blue Devils shot a season-best 53.4 percent from the floor, hitting 31-58 shots. Stout hit 9-18 3-pointers with Liz Oswald, Fabeck and Wampler each hitting two treys.  In the second period, Stout shot 78.6 percent (11-14) to shoot out to the big lead.

The Green Knights' Macie Zurfluh led all scorers with 14 points. St. Norbert hit 20-51 (39.2 percent) from the floor and only 1-7 from 3-point range. 

Stout held a 39-21 advantage in rebounds. 

The win gave the Stout program their first-ever win over the Green Knights in 12 attempts, dating back to 1972.

The win also gave Blue Devil coach Hannah Iverson a win over Green Knight's head coach Amanda Leonhard-Perry, a long-time acquaintance. Leonard-Perry, a Ladysmith native, was an assistant coach at UW-Green Bay when Iverson played for the Phoenix. The two were also assistant coaches on the Green Bay staff for several years before Iverson left to take over at Stout last season. This is Leonhard-Perry's first year as the St. Norbert head coach. She took over for Connie Tilley, who retired after 42 years at St. Norbert. 

Illinois Wesleyan, which had defeated Stout Friday, downed Calvin College, 60-44, to win the tournament title. 

The Blue Devils will host Luther College, Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m., the College of St. Scholastica, Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2:30 p.m. and the University of Northwestern, Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m.