After moving into the win column for the first time this season with a convincing victory Saturday at Macalester, the Yellowjacket women's basketball team was looking to continue the climb back to the .500 mark. Standing in the way of the Yellowjackets Tuesday night was the College of St. Scholastica. The Saints, who the Yellowjackets will face just once in 2014-15, were making their season debut and the Yellowjackets were determined that when the dust settled, St. Scholastica would still be looking for win number one.

Mission accomplished.

Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) took the opening tip and scored just three seconds into the game giving the Yellowjackets a lead they would never give up, as they cruised to a 71-59 victory before a crowd of 127 at the Reif Center on the St. Scholastica campus.

Linzmeier posted 11 points and 11 rebounds in the game, marking her first double-double of the season. She was one of four Yellowjackets to score in double figures for the game. The 11 points gives her 1,281 for her career, meaning she needs just 20 to establish a new school mark.

The Yellowjackets came out firing in the first half and opened up a 6-2 lead before the Saints came back to tie. A Bailee Bartunek (Audobon, Minn./Lake Park-Audobon) jumper from the paint broke the tie and the Yellowjackets were off, leading 8-6. After a pair of Linzmeier free throws Allyssa Lindberg (Marquette, Mich./Marquette) hit her first three-pointer of the game to increase the Yellowjacket lead. Superior opened up a nine-point lead, only to see the Saints rally and whittle it back to four at 19-15.

Later Lindberg hit back-to-back threes to push the Yellowjacket lead into double figures for the first time, 31-21, with just under five minutes to play in the first half. A three-point play by Hadley Skalmoski (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) built the lead to a first half-high of 13 points, 36-23, with 3:42 to go in the half. The teams then traded points before a St. Scholastica 7-1 run late closed the gap. The Yellowjackets went to the locker room up seven, 39-32 at the break.

Lindberg and Bartunek were on fire in the half, each scoring 11 points to pace the Yellowjackets. Lindberg was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, including hitting three three pointers, while Bartunek was 4-of-5 shooting.

The Yellowjackets pushed the pace early in the second half and by the midpoint had once again opened up a 13-point lead at 54-41. Four straight points from Linzmeier followed by a layup from Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) pushed the lead to 19 at 60-43 with just over six minutes to play. The lead reached 20 with 4:14 left before the Saints went on a 13-5 run to close the game out, but it was too-little-too-late and the Yellowjackets earned their second win of the season.

Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) led the Yellowjackets with 17 points in the game, followed by Lindberg and Bartunek who scored 13 apiece. Lindberg accounted for half of the Yellowjackets' 26 bench points.

For the game the Yellowjackets shot 43.6% from the field, hitting on 24-of-55 shots, including going 4-of-12 (33.3%) from three. The Yellowjackets were 8-of-10 from the free throw line, besting the Saints in all three shooting categories. The Yellowjackets also out-rebounded St. Scholastica 42-30.

Kelsey Sorenson led the Saints with 16 points, followed by Brittani Brennan with 12 points. They were the only two Saints to score in double figures.

The Yellowjackets (2-3, 0-0 WIAC) will get their first taste of conference play Wednesday, December 3 when they travel to UW-River Falls to take on the Falcons. Game time from the Karges Center is set for 7:00 p.m.