UW-Stout 84, UW-River Falls 77
MENOMONIE (February 3, 2021) - Led by a pair of freshmen playing their first collegiate games, UW-Stout had five players in double figures and went on to win a tight game at UW-River Falls, 84-77, Wednesday at Page Arena.
Stout (1-0, 1-0 WIAC) took the lead in the opening stanza with sophomore
Erin O'Brien scoring six of her career-high 14 and Stout led, 22-20 at the first break. The Falcons carried a 48-47 lead into the halftime locker room, with O'Brien adding another six points in the frame. The Blue Devils took as much as a six point lead when freshman
Anna Mutch gave Stout a 63-57 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the period, but the Falcons scored the final four points to pull to 63-61.
The Blue Devils fell behind, 69-68, at 6:37 of the fourth, but O'Brien put Stout ahead to stay a half minute later and
Tess Johnson drained a 3-pointer to make it 73-69 at 5:07. Johnson scored six of her game-high 15 points in the final period.
The Falcons got to within one point, 78-77, on a Bethany Vasecka bucket with 1:50 remaining, but that would prove to be the final River Falls points as Stout scored the final six points, including a basket by Sam Schaefer and a pair of free throws each by Mutch and
Liz Oswald.
The freshman Johnson led Stout with 15 points and also had eight rebounds. Johnson also had three steals and three assists. Fellow freshman Mutch collected her first collegiate double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. O'Brien had 14 points, sophomore
Haylee Yaeger 12 and senior
Lizzy Olsem 10.
The Falcons had four players in double figures, getting 16 points from Colie Justice, 14 points from Macy Nilson, 13 points from Jenna Zeman and 12 points from Bethany Vasecka.
Stout held a 42-33 advantage off the glass. In addition to Mutch's 14 rebounds and Johnson's eight, O'Brien pulled down five and Yaeger and Schaeffer each had four. Oswald had a game-high five assists.
The two teams will square again Friday, Feb. 5 at Johnson Fieldhouse at 7 p.m
