Box Score
STEVENS POINT – The 10th-ranked UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat UW-Stout 85-68 tonight at Berg Gym.
The Pointers have now won nine games in a row and have an overall record of 14-1 and a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) record of 5-1. The Blue Devils drop to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the WIAC. Stevens Point remains unbeaten at Berg Gym with a record of 8-0 this season.
The Pointers came out and scored the first four points of the game. The Blue Devils responded with a 9-0 run to make the score 9-4 at the first media timeout. UW-Stout did not relinquish the lead the rest of the half as the Pointers got within two on a couple of occasions and within one point with a minute to play. However, Stout would score the final four points of the half to make the halftime score 41-36.
Stevens Point shot just 36 % in the half, while Stout shot 42 %. The Blue Devils also had a 27-20 edge on the glass. Jessi Sporle (Mineral Point/Mineral Point) (Jr.-Mineral Point) had a big half for the Pointers with 12 points.
The Blue Devils held that five-point lead until the Pointers went on an 8-0 run to regain the lead with 15 minutes to play. After Stout tied the game for the seventh time with 13 minutes remaining, the Pointers went on an 8-1 run over the next two minutes and did not look back. The Stevens Point lead grew to as much as 19 after an Andrea Flease (New London/New London) (Fr.-New London) layup made the score 81-62 with 2:29 remaining. The Pointers closed out the Blue Devils to win by a final score of 85-68.
After being outscored in the first half, the Pointer bench scored 18 points in the second half, compared to eight points by the Stout bench. Stevens Point shot 54 % in the second half, including 4-for-4 from beyond the three-point line. The Blue Devils shot just 31 % in the second half and finished just 2-for-13 on three-point attempts.
Haley Houghton (Wausau/Wausau East) (Sr.-Wausau/East) led the Pointers with 18 points. Jessi Sporle (Mineral Point/Mineral Point) was behind her with 15 points. Both Houghton and Sporle each had a team-high six rebounds. Laura Neuenfeldt (Two Rivers/Two Rivers) (Sr.-Two Rivers) had 12 points and Janell Van Gomple (DeForest/DeForest) (Jr.-DeForest) chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Neuenfeldt also led the Pointers with five assists. Julia Hirssig had a double-double, 18 points and 12 rebounds, in the loss for Stout.
The Pointers will host UW-Superior on Saturday at Berg Gym. It will be Alumni Day for the Pointers. The tip-of is scheduled for 3 p.m. and is the first game of a men's and women's doubleheader.
