Morning State Sports Briefs: UWRF to host semifinals and finals of NCHA tourney

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ROVER FALLS - UW-River Falls will host the final two rounds of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association women's tournament beginning on Friday night.

In the semi-finals, top-seeded River Falls will play Number-five Concordia-Mequon. And Number-two Adrian of Michigan will face third-seeded Superior. Friday's winners will advance to the league title game next Sunday.

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Saint Norbert will host UW-Superior on Saturday for the men's championship of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. The Green Knights earned their spot with a 5-3 home win over River Falls in last Saturday night's semi-finals. Kyle Stroh scored twice for Saint Norbert, which was ranked second last week by U.S. College Hockey Online. Superior earned its spot in the finals with a 4-2 semi-final victory over Stevens Point. Drew Strandberg had 14 saves for Superior in the third period.

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The top-seeded and No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin women will host North Dakota on Friday afternoon in the semi-finals of the WCHA’s Final Face-Off in Minneapolis. Second-seeded Minnesota-Duluth will face number-three Minnesota on Friday night. The winners of those two games will compete for the conference tournament title on Saturday night. North Dakota earned the fourth seed with a 3-2 overtime victory yesterday over Bemidji State. That gave the Fighting Sioux a two-games-to-one victory in their first-round playoff series. The top-ranked Badgers won their first round playoff series over the weekend, with a two-game sweep over Saint Cloud State in Verona. Wisconsin’s Hilary Knight had two goals in the series finale. That extended her points streak to 20 games, the second-longest in Badger history.

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The field is set for the boys-and-girls state high school hockey tournaments to be played in Madison starting on Thursday. The boys will have a new champion, after the University School of Milwaukee did not make the eight-team field. The quarter-finals will be played on Thursday. Green Bay Notre Dame faces Milwaukee Marquette. Middleton takes on Cedarburg. Eau Claire Memorial plays Wisconsin Dells-Reedsburg. And Wausau West faces New Richmond. The boys' semi-finals will be played Friday, and those winners will go for the title on Saturday. In the girls' tournament, River Falls will play for its third consecutive state title. They'll open a four-team state tournament on Friday against Appleton. Mosinee and Sun Prairie will square off in the other semi. And those two winners will go for the state crown on Saturday.

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The University of Wisconsin women's basketball team were given the Number-six seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament, despite finishing in a four-way tie for third in the regular season. The Badgers had the worst head-to-head record against the deadlocked teams. So they’ll play Number-11 Illinois with the winner to face third-seeded Michigan on Friday. Badgers went 10-6 in the conference, and 15-13 overall, after they got crushed at Ohio State yesterday 80-47. Wisconsin missed 20 shots in a row in the first half, and they made just 25-percent from the floor. That's the fifth-lowest single-game shooting percentage in the program's history. The Badgers committed eight turnovers in the first half and trailed 39-14 at the break. They committed just four turnovers in the second half, while more than doubling their point total. But it was too little, too late for Lisa Stone's squad. Freshman Cassie Rochel led Wisconsin in scoring with a season-high 10 points. Jantel Lavender had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio State, which ended the regular season at 10-6 in Big Ten play and 19-9 overall.

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UW-Milwaukee is getting a free pass to the semi-finals of this week's Horizon League men's basketball tournament. The Panthers tied with Butler and Cleveland State for the regular season title, and Milwaukee earned the top seed by having better head-to-head records against the other two. Butler has the Number-two seed. Both Butler and Milwaukee have byes in the first two rounds, and will have home games in their semi-final openers on Saturday night. UW-Green Bay was not as fortunate. The Phoenix were given the Number-seven seed, and will play at Number-six Wright State in the first round tomorrow night. The winner of that game will play either Cleveland State or Illinois-Chicago in the second round on Friday night. Milwaukee, Butler, and Cleveland State all finished the conference schedule at 13-5. Valparaiso was fourth, and Green Bay was seventh at 8-10. UWM is 18-12 overall. Green Bay is 14-17.

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UW-Stevens Point won its fourth straight WIAC women's basketball title yesterday with a 73-53 home rout of UW-Whitewater. The Pointers, ranked fourth in the NCAA's Division-Three, won their 18th straight game and improved to 25-2 overall. Point led by nine at the half and rolled from there. Ashley Averkamp had 23 points and 10 rebounds, as Stevens Point shot 50-percent from three-point range. Whitewater committed 20 turnovers. Dana Thompson scored 18 for the Warhawks, who fell to 21-6. Stevens Point earned the league’s automatic berths for the NCAA Division-Three women’s-and-men’s tournaments. Fields and brackets will be announced this afternoon.

UW-La Crosse won its 14th straight WIAC wrestling title yesterday. The Eagles scored 132 points at the conference meet in Platteville. Whitewater placed second with 105.5. La Crosse won seven individual championships. Bebeto Yewah was named the Wrestler-of-the-Meet after beating Whitewater’s Dylan Schroeder by a technical fall in the 141-pound weight class. Matt Mauseth of La Crosse won his fourth straight conference title at 149-pounds with an 8-4 victory over Kris Magruder of Stevens Point. The Eagles’ Albie McKinney and Mike Schmitz became three-time champions – Corey Ferguson won his second straight crown – and Billy Mayer and Adam Sheley won their first titles for La Crosse. Dave Malecek of La Crosse was named the league’s Coach-of-the-Year. And Mauseth was named the sport’s top scholar-athlete.

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Jerry Kelly of Madison tied for 50th at the PGA's Mayakoba Golf Classic near Cancun Mexico. Kelly shot a five-over-par 76 in his final round yesterday, and he finished three-under for the tournament at 281. Johnson Wagner won the event, defeating Spencer Levin in the first hole of sudden death. Both ended regulation at 17-under-267.

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