With just four games remaining in the regular season, the final push for playoff positioning has already begun for the UW-Superior women's basketball team.

And the Yellowjackets, coming off an overtime loss against UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, showed they are ready for the stretch run Wednesday night, breaking open a 10-point halftime lead in the second half before cruising for a 77-52 win over UW-Stout at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.

UW-Superior held the Blue Devils to just 26.8 percent shooting (19-of-71) and outrebounded UW-Stout 58-31 for the game while improving to 17-4 overall and 9-3 in WIAC conference action.

The Blue Devils meanwhile fell to 8-12 overall and 2-9 in league play.

After a free throw by UW-Stout's Brea Boomer gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the first 24 seconds of the first half, the Yellowjackets scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 9-3 lead on a layup by Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) with 17:05 left in the opening half.

Kristen Nett (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port) started the run for the Yellowjackets, hitting a three-pointer with 18:20 remaining and was followed by baskets from Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Hillary Peterson (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake).

The Yellowjackets continued to build their lead, upping the margin to 20-9 on a free throw by Peterson with 10:04 left.
UW-Stout made a run to cut into the deficit, trimming UW-Superior's lead to 23-21 on a three-pointer by Kyleigh Herbert with 6:03 showing on the clock.

But Nett connected on another three on the next possession and the Yellowjackets got two quick layups from Linzmeier, a long jumper by Connie Urmanski (Edgar, Wis./Edgar) and an inside score from Carmen Watson (Milwaukee, Wis./James Madison) in the last 5:34 to take a 37-27 lead into the intermission.

The Yellowjackets again surged away early in the second half, outscoring the Blue Devils 19-6 in the opening 4:26 to take a commanding 56-33 lead following another three-pointer by Nett with 15:34 remaining in regulation.

UW-Stout would never get closer than 23 points over the final 14:13 as UW-Superior shot 43.3 percent from the field (13-of-30) in the second half while holding the Blue Devils to just 30.3 percent shooting (10-of-33) after halftime.

Offensively, the Yellowjackets were paced by Nett, who hit 4-of-6 from three-point range on the way to scoring a game-high 16 points.  Peterson meanwhile added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field while Linzmeier finished with 12.
UW-Stout was led by Katelynne Folkers with 11 points.  Brea Boomer added 10 points for the Blue Devils.

Milestone Update: Urmanski is now in sole possession of third place on the all-time games played list with 97. She is four games away from breaking the school record, held by Kelsey Thingvold (2007-11). Urmanski is also fifth in points (1,092) and third in assists with 259, just four behind Kati Galovich (2001-05) for second on the all-time list. Kailee McDonald (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) played her 94th career game, moving her into a tie for seventh on the all-time list.  Peterson added three more blocks to her career total, giving her 65, 21 behind Courtney Lane (1997-01) for second on the all-time list.

The Yellowjackets will play their final regular season home Saturday when they host UW-Oshkosh at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium. Opening tipoff for Saturday's game with the Titans is scheduled for 3 p.m. The game can be heard locally on 91.3 KM KUWS on tape delay following the broadcast of the men's basketball game, which starts at around 6:30 p.m. Matt Johnson will have the call.