ST. PAUL, Minn. – The UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team nearly recovered from a 15-point deficit late in the first half in a 60-52 loss at No. 11-ranked St. Thomas on Sunday afternoon at Schoenecker Arena.
Box Score UW-Stevens Point (3-3), which trailed by 11 at the break, got within a single point at 53-52 with 3:05 remaining but St. Thomas (4-0) held the Pointers scoreless the rest of the way. The Tommies never trailed in the game and scored the final seven points of the game in the closing minutes.
UST held a 49-40 lead after a layup by Alyssa Favilla with 10:07 to play but UWSP responded with a 7-0 run to get within a basket.
Kaitlyn Jacobs (New Franken, WI/Green Bay Preble) accounted for four points and
Jamie Destache (Sussex, WI/Sussex-Hamilton) nailed a three-pointer from Jacobs during the run.
The Tommies continued to lead by two to four points until Jacobs found
Lauren Anklam (Ringle, WI/D.C. Everest) for a three-pointer to make it 53-52 in favor of the hosts. However, St. Thomas quickly replied with jumpers by Katie Stone and Maggie Weiers and made three late free throws to close out the win.
St. Thomas built a 21-11 lead in the first 7:39 of the game before UW-Stevens Point scored eight points in a row to get back within two. The Tommies came right back with a 15-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 36-21 with 3:53 to go before the break.
Jenna Dockter shot 5-for-10 from the field, including 3-for-6 from three-point range, to lead all scorers with 17 points for St. Thomas. Weiers added 13 and Anna Smith posted a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Allie Miceli (Marseilles, IL/Ottawa Township) came off the bench to lead the Pointers with 13 points and seven rebounds. The UWSP bench outscored the UST reserves (29-15) and UW-Stevens Point's starters (29-23) in the game. Anklam and
Mickey Roland (New London, WI/New London) each added eight bench points.
The Pointers open Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play at UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. UWSP won both meetings by a combined 50 points last season.
