Evening State Sports Briefs: UConn's Calhoun to miss Marquette game and first three Big East games next season

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HARTFORD, Conn. - University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun will miss tomorrow night’s game against Marquette in Hartford. He’s attending a memorial service in New Hampshire for his sister-in-law. Eileen McDevitt Fucile died on Monday. The announcement comes a day after the NCAA suspended Calhoun for the first three Big East Conference games next season due to recruiting violations under his tenure.

Associate George Blaney is taking over for Calhoun at a practice today, and during tomorrow night’s game against the Golden Eagles. Marquette goes into tomorrow’s contest at 7-7 in the conference and 16-11 overall. 14th-ranked UConn is 8-6 in the league and 20-6 overall.

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The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team will host Indiana tonight. The Badgers need to win at least one of their final two regular season games in order to get a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament to be played next week. Coach Lisa Stone says she’s treating tonight’s contest as a “one game season.” Wisconsin is tied for third at the moment at 9-5. And they’re 14-12 overall. The Badgers are coming off a home loss to Michigan last Saturday – and they’ll face a struggling Indiana team that’s 3-11 in the Big Ten, and 9-17 overall. Also tonight, the Wisconsin men are playing at Michigan.

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Concordia-Mequon has the top seed as the Northern Athletics Conference men’s basketball tournament opens tonight. The Falcons will host Wisconsin Lutheran in the quarter-finals. Also, Number-two Benedictine is at home against Rockford. Third-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering entertains Number-six Aurora. And fourth-seeded Edgewood has the home floor against Number-five Lakeland. Tonight’s winners will advance to the semi-finals on Friday night. The tournament title will be decided on Saturday. Meanwhile, the NAC women’s tourney resumes tomorrow night with the semi-finals. All four top-seeds advanced after last night’s quarter-finals. Wisconsin Lutheran hosts Benedictine, and Concordia-Mequon plays at Dominican.

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The WIAC women’s tournament begins tonight with the four lowest seeds in action. Top-seeded UW-Stevens Point, the regular season champion, has a first-round bye along with second-seeded Whitewater. Number-three La Crosse is at home tonight against sixth-seeded Oshkosh. And Eau Claire, the Number-four seed, hosts fifth-seeded River Falls. Tonight’s winners will advance to the semi-finals on Friday, with the lowest-seeded survivor to take on the fourth-ranked Pointers. The championship game will played on Saturday. The WIAC men’s tournament resumes tomorrow night with the semi-finals. Superior and Platteville upset higher-seed teams in last night’s opening round. Superior will play top-seeded Stevens Point in the semis, and Platteville takes on Number-two River Falls.

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Austin Meier of Milwaukee School of Engineering and Erika Laete of Wisconsin Lutheran have been named the basketball players-of-the-week in the Northern Athletics Conference. Meier, a senior forward, averaged 25-and-a-half points and 12-and-a-half rebounds in a pair of victories for Milwaukee Engineering. And he became the school’s all-time leading rebounder with 873 career boards. Laete, a senior forward, scored a conference-record 50 points in Wisconsin Lutheran’s overtime win over Dominican. It was the highest point total in an NCAA Division-Three game this season. And Laete averaged 30 points and 10-and-a-half rebounds in a pair of contests last week. The NAC also honored Max Divelbiss of Edgewood in men’s tennis, and Ellen Schwartz of Wisconsin Lutheran in women’s indoor track.

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Nick Kerkman of Lawrence University has been named the men’s indoor field athlete-of-the-week in the Midwest Conference. Kerkman, a junior, broke the school record in the weight throw at the UW-Stevens Point Eastbay Invitational. His toss was 48-feet, eight-inches.

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Erika Laete of Wisconsin Lutheran has made the national women’s small college Team-of-the-Week from D3hoops.com. Laete, a senior forward, scored the most points in an NCAA Division-Three women’s game this season when she had 50 against Dominican last Saturday. That broke all-time records for both Wisconsin Lutheran and the Northern Athletics Conference. Laete also became the 13th player in school history to score at least one-thousand points for her career. She also had 31 points and 11 rebounds last night when Wisconsin Lutheran eliminated Milwaukee School of Engineering in the quarter-finals of the NAC Tournament.

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The Green Bay Packers have hired one of their former practice squad players as a strength-and-conditioning assistant. Zac Woodfin fills an opening left by Dave Redding, who retired earlier this week.

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Two UW-Milwaukee athletes received weekly indoor track-and-field honors from the Horizon League. Sophomore hurdler Chia Okonkwo won the women’s track award for winning the 60-meter hurdles at the Milwaukee Panther Tune-Up. Freshman Scott Erickson was named the men’s field athlete-of-the-week for winning the shot-put and taking second in the weight throw. Milwaukee sophomore Maddy Soule is the women’s tennis player-of-the-week. She became the first player in UWM’s Division-One history to beat a Wisconsin Badger in a singles’ match at a dual meet.

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Chris Davis of UW-Whitewater and Ashley Wolf of Platteville are the WIAC’s basketball players-of-the-week. Davis, a junior center, won the men’s honor with a pair of double-doubles last week. He had 35 points and 12 rebounds for Whitewater against Oshkosh, and 26 points and 10 boards against Superior. Wolf, a senior guard, tied a Platteville school record with seven three-pointers against River Falls while scoring a career-high 30 points. In indoor track, the Whitewater distance medley relay team of Aron Kehoe, Joe Dixon, Jeremie Bogard, and Brian Butzler was honored as the men’s athletes of the week. Ann Tank of Platteville won the women’s award. The WIAC also recognized Ben Ludtke of Oshkosh and Jessa Luebke of Whitewater in indoor field events – Siri Wischmann of Whitewater and Stacie Jenkins of Oshkosh in gymnastics – and Ben Engelland of Stevens Point in wrestling.

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