STEVENS POINT- The UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 79-69 win over St. Norbert College on Friday night at the Berg Gymnasium.
Britta Petersen scored 20 points and Andrea Flease finished with a game-high 14 assists to help lead the Pointers to a victory. Flease's 14 assists were one shy of the Pointers single game record.
The Pointers (26-2) opened up the game with a 9-0 start as the Berg Gymnasium was rocking early and often on Friday night.
They then built their lead up to 13 points as they led 27-14 with 7:53 to go in the first half. St. Norbert then used a full time out to try and slow the Pointers momentum.
The time out seemed to work well for the Green Knights as they used a 19-9 run to close out the half, as the Pointers held a 36-33 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Cassie Bandow scored 11 of her 15 points in the opening half as she made all five shots she attempted from the floor. Petersen had 10 points in the opening half, while Flease had nine of her 14 assists.
The Pointers then played another strong first part of a half, as they built their lead up to 19 points with 8:53 to play, 66-47.
St. Norbert then cut the lead to 11 points, using an 8-0 run to make the score 66-55 with 7:15 left to play in the game.
Back-to-back layups by Petersen pushed the Pointers lead back up to 15 points and the Pointers then rolled to the first round victory.
Joining Petersen and Bandow in double figures for the Pointers were Sam Barber (14) and Ashley Averkamp had her second consecutive double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
For the game the Pointers shot 52.4 percent (33-63) from the floor. The Pointers also had 23 assists in the game.
Erin Baganz led the Green Knights with 19 points, as she was 7-of-11 from the floor. Krista Pelky and Jamie Kuhl each also finished in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The Pointers will now face off against Simpson College tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Berg Gymnasium in a NCAA Tournament second round game.
The Storm advanced with a 59-56 win over Concordia-Moorehead in the opening game. Staci Schutjer led the Storm with 16 points and 20 rebounds, while Jamie Elbert came off the bench to score 13 points.
The Pointers and Storm met earlier this season with the Pointers winning 78-60 on November 27th.