Nothing too crazy happened over Thanksgiving break in athletics except for two wins for the UW-Stout basketball program. Stout hosted a double-header game November 24th, and Stout won both!
The women’s basketball team kicked off the double-header with the win against Hamline University. The final score was 86-63. Junior guard, Sarah Schoch led the Blue Devils with a career-high 25 points. Other contributing players were Jenna Goldsmith with 13 points and 7 rebounds and Kyleigh Herbert with 7 rebounds and 8 assists. This was the third win in a row for the Blue Devils!
Following that game, the men’s team then took on opponents Bethany Lutheran College. Stout trailed Bethany Lutheran up until the last minute. Down by five points, Stout turned it around and scored a lay-up, put back, and a three pointer to tie it up 81-81. After the first forty seconds of overtime, Stout took the lead for the first time in the whole game. However, it wasn’t easy for them to keep. Bethany Lutheran caught back up, and with ten seconds left they faced the pressure to win the game. Luckily for the Blue Devils, Elliot handled the pressure well and made the free throw. Bethany Lutheran was unable to get a decent shot off, and Stout won its second game of the night.
Since then, the women’s and men’s team has both played a game each. Both teams, however, lost their next game. The women’s team ended their three win streak with a heartbreaker against St. Catherine’s University.
The final score of the game was 79-81. Stout was unable to push it into overtime when St. Kate’s scored with just 2.8 seconds left into the game. Leading the team with 21 points was Jenna Goldsmith. Goldsmith also blocked four shots and got nine rebounds. Also contributing to Stout’s score was Bailey Dierson and Kyleigh Herbert with 19 points and 11 points respectively. Although Stout held the advantage over St. Kate’s in rebounds 45-24, they didn’t seem able to convert or compete with St. Kate’s high shooting percentage.
Likewise the men’s team also lost their second game of the week. However it was a different situation from the women’s team. As soon as UW-Superior took an eight-point lead late in the first half, Stout never got closer than five points to the Yellowjackets. John Keefe, Jake Patterson, and Colton Williams all led the team in scoring with 23, 14, and 10 points respectively.
The two sporting events this weekend in Menomonie are the men’s basketball game against Buena Vista University at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5th, and the men’s hockey games on Friday, December 4th, at 7:30 pm.