Monday State Sports Briefs: UWRF wins NCHA regular season title

• UW-River Falls Falcons

UW-River Falls Falcons

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RIVER FALLS - UW-River Falls won the women’s regular season title yesterday in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association with a 5-0 shutout of Lake Forest.

River Falls earned the top seed for the O’Brien Cup Playoffs, which begin this weekend with two-game quarter-final series. River Falls will host eighth-seeded Eau Claire. No. 2 Adrian of Michigan is at home against Stevens Point. Third-seeded Lake Forest hosts Saint Scholastica. And No. 4 UW-Superior entertains Saint Norbert.

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The semifinals are set in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association men’s playoffs. Sixth-seeded UW-River Falls upset No. 3 Stevens Point in the first round over the weekend. The Falcons will play at top-seeded UW-Eau Claire on Saturday night, after the Blugolds earned a first-round bye. In the other Peters Cup semi, No. 2 Saint Norbert will host fourth-seeded Saint Scholastica. Saint Norbert eliminated Stout in the first round, while Saint Scholastica took out Superior.

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The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team won its regular season home finale last night, 3-2 in overtime over Minnesota-Duluth. Brianna Decker scored the game-winner, as the Badgers secured third-place in the WCHA with a league mark of 15-9-2-2. Wisconsin swept the weekend series against Duluth, securing home ice in the first round of the playoffs with a two-goal victory on Saturday. The Badgers are now 19-9-2-2 overall. Minnesota-Duluth is 13-12-1-0 in the conference, in a battle for fourth place with Ohio State. Duluth fell to 14-13-3 overall. Wisconsin will close out its regular season this weekend at Bemidji State.

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The Milwaukee Admirals completed a 4-3 homestand by beating Abbotsford of British Columbia 3-1 last night at the Bradley Center. Michael Liambas, playing in just his sixth game for the Admirals, scored the eventual game-winner with 11:58 to play. Magnus Hellberg had 23 saves, playing in his fourth game in eight days. Abbotsford dropped to 0-4 on a five-game road trip. Milwaukee is now in sole possession of third place in the American Hockey League’s Midwest Division with 52 points.

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All of the boys’-and-girls’ No. 1 seeds advanced to this week’s sectionals in the state high school hockey tournaments. Defending boys’ champion Green Bay Notre Dame is still in the running – along with top-seeds Eau Claire Memorial, Superior, Wausau West, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, Verona, Kettle Moraine, and Fond du Lac. Girls’ defending champion Schofield D.C. Everest made the sectionals, as did top-seeds Onalaska, Hayward/Spooner and Brookfield Central. Thirty-two boys’ teams and 16 girls’ squads will pair off in the sectionals, which begin tomorrow.

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After 15 Major League seasons, Milwaukee Brewers’ third baseman Aramis Ramirez says he’ll do anything to avoid his normal slow starts. April has traditionally been his worst month for hitting. Ramirez is a career .257 hitter for the month – and he only hit .214 a year ago in his first April with the Brewers. He was hoping the climate-controlled conditions in Miller Park would improve his eye-at-the-plate at the beginning of the season – but it didn’t. Ramirez slowly heated up in May and June, and he batted well over .300 in his final three months a year ago. Ramirez finished the year with an even .300 batting average with a .360 on-base percentage, 27 homers, 105 RBI’s, and a .540 slugging percentage. Ramirez says he has talked several times with Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke about getting a good start. Roenicke said Ramirez helped himself by reporting to camp in better shape than a year ago – and now, they’ll work on a spring training schedule that will maximize Ramirez’ preparations. They’ll be deciding on things in the next few days. The Brewers open their Spring Training game schedule on Saturday against Oakland.

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The Milwaukee Bucks may end up being a totally different team by the end of the week – or not. The NBA’s trade deadline is mid-afternoon on Thursday, and both of Milwaukee’s starting guards are the subjects of trade rumors. Brandon Jennings says he loves Milwaukee but he’s tired of being passed over for All-Star bids. And Monta Ellis was asked about his desire to stay, after he turned off his shooting spigot in a recent game. He has an $11-million-dollar player option at the end of the season, and he’s been non-committal when asked if he’ll stay in Milwaukee. The Bucks were scheduled to return to practice today after the entire team was off for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. They’ll play in Brooklyn tomorrow night. Milwaukee has 31 games left, and it holds a four-game lead over Philadelphia for the eighth-and-a-final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks are also a game-and-a-half behind Boston for the No. 7 postseason spot in the East – a spot Milwaukee held before losing five-of-seven before the All-Star break. The Bucks are 26-25.

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Former Marquette University guard Dwayne Wade had 21 points and seven assists in last night’s NBA All-Star Game in Houston. Wade, of the Miami Heat, was chosen by the fans to start for the Eastern Conference, which lost to the West 142-138. The West won its third straight All-Star Game, and the fourth in the past five years. Chris Paul of the LA Clippers was the game’s MVP with 20 points and 15 assists. And for the ninth year in a row, no Milwaukee Bucks made it to the All-Star rosters. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said Bucks’ point guard Brandon Jennings was so upset at being snubbed, he rejected an invitation to the All-Star Skills’ Challenge on Saturday night. That left Milwaukee without a representative in any of the All-Star activities for the second year in a row.

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The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team will play at Illinois tonight. The Badgers have lost three-of-their-last-four, after falling to Purdue by 10 points of Valentine's evening in Madison. Wisconsin, who’s been shorthanded for most of the season, is 3-9 in the Big Ten and 11-14 overall. The Fighting Illini have won four-of-their-last-five – and they knocked off the Badgers 64-56 in Madison 15 days ago. Illinois is 7-4 in conference play for the first time since 2001, and they’re 14-9 overall. Illini guard Alexis Smith is third in the conference with almost six assists per game. She’s had 35 assists with only a dozen turnovers in her last five contests. Morgan Paige leads the Badgers in scoring with almost 17 points a game – but she was held to just four points by Purdue last week.

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The Marquette University women's basketball team were crushed by second-ranked Notre Dame, 87-49 in Milwaukee yesterday. The Fighting Irish scored the last nine points of the first half, and the first 12 of the second half to win their 19th straight game. Skylar Diggins scored 23 points as Notre Dame improved to 12-0 in the Big East Conference and 24-1 overall. Natalie Achonwa had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Irish – which out-shot the Golden Eagles 50-to-33 percent, with a 41-to-28 rebounding edge. Marquette also committed 20 turnovers, to just 8 for Notre Dame. Sarina Simmons scored 12 points and Arlesia Morse 11 to lead Marquette, which has lost six-of-its-last-eight. The Eagles dropped to 4-8 in the Big East and 12-13 overall. They’ll host Saint John’s on Wednesday night.

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Top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran will host No. 4 Benedictine Thursday night in the semi-finals of the Northern Athletics Conference women’s basketball tourney. Second-seeded Concordia-Mequon will entertain third-seed Maranatha Baptist in the other semi. Wisconsin Lutheran eliminated Lakeland 65-40 in the opening round during the weekend. Concordia-Mequon advanced with a 72-54 win over Rockford. Maranatha moved on with a 67-50 victory over Concordia-Chicago. And Benedictine topped Alverno 53-42.

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The top-four seeds have advanced to the semi-finals of the Northern Athletics Conference men’s basketball tournament. No. 1 Lakeland will host fourth-seeded Concordia-Mequon tomorrow night. And second-seeded Aurora will entertain No. 3 Dominican. Lakeland advanced with 95-87 victory over Marian in the weekend’s first-round. Aurora eliminated Benedictine 87-67. Dominican edged Rockford 64-62. And Concordia-Mequon topped the Milwaukee School of Engineering 66-56.

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The UW-Milwaukee men fell apart in the second half yesterday, and lost at Cleveland State 88-67. The game was tied at 37 at the break, but the Vikings scored 11 straight points early in the second half to take charge. UWM coach Rob Jeter said fatigue set in, both mental and physical. Neither team shot badly, as Cleveland State made 52-and-a-half percent to Milwaukee’s 51-point-one. But the Vikings controlled the boards, 36-23, and the Panthers committed five more turnovers. Bryn Forbes tied a career-high with 24 points for Cleveland State. Charlie Lee scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, as the Vikings improved to 5-9 in the Horizon League and 13-15 overall. Jordan Aaron scored 18 for U-W Milwaukee, which fell to 2-12 in the Horizon League and 6-22 overall. The Panthers will play their home finale on Wednesday night against Illinois-Chicago.

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Milwaukee area native Ben Averkamp has been named the Horizon League men’s scholar-athlete of the month for the third straight time. Averkamp, a Germantown native who plays basketball at Loyola of Chicago, is also one of 30 national candidates for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award to be handed out at the NCAA Final Four. He has a three-point-eight-oh grade point average with a major in biology. On the court, Averkamp averaged 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and one blocked shot per game for Loyola in January – while shooting 46-percent and leading the Ramblers to four victories.

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The University of Wisconsin wrestling team was shut out in yesterday’s opening round of the NWCA National Duals at Kent State in Ohio. The Badgers lost their first match to Northern Iowa, 24-15. And in the consolation round, Wisconsin was eliminated with a 33-10 loss to Kent State. Two Badgers won both their individual matches – Tyler Graff at 133 pounds and Connor Medbery at heavyweight. UW's record is 7-8 overall, 4-4 in the Big Ten. The Badgers' next meet is the Big Ten conference meet in Champaign, Ill. March 9-10.

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UW-Whitewater won its second straight WIAC wrestling championship yesterday. The Warhawks out-dueled La Crosse 23-10 in the title match. Stevens Point won the third-place match over Platteville, 35-7. It was the first time in the tournament’s 58-year history in which a dual-meet format was used. Six teams earned seeds, based on their regular season performances. Adam Sheley of La Crosse was named the Wrestler-of-the-Meet. He also received the sport’s scholar-athlete award. Stevens Point coach Johnny Johnson received Coach-of-the-Year honors.

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Grinnell won both the men’s-and-women’s crowns yesterday at the Midwest Conference swim meet which ended yesterday at Grinnell Iowa. The men won their 12th straight league title, while the women took back the crown they lost to Lake Forest a year ago. Lake Forest placed second in both competitions. Carroll was the top Wisconsin school on the men’s side, placing fourth. Lawrence of Appleton was the state’s top women’s finisher, also in fourth. Alex Mishun of Carroll won the men’s one-meter and three-meter diving golds, and was named the men’s Diver-of-the-Meet. Lawrence women placed second in five events. Taylor Winter took silver in both the 500-freestyle and the 16-hundred-50-free. Other Lawrence runner-ups were Hannah Gabriel in the 200-free, Hayley Cardinal in the 100-breaststroke, and Emily Flack in the 200-backstroke.

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Marquette University has won its first game ever in women’s lacrosse. The Golden Eagles are 1-1 in their inaugural season, after winning at Coastal Carolina 12-11 in double overtime yesterday in Conway South Carolina. Freshman Hayley Baas scored the game-winning goal at 1:31 into the second extra period. In the OT, Eagles’ freshman Kenzie Brown tied the game after the Chanticleers had gone out in front. Brown had five goals on the day, as Coastal Carolina dropped to 0-2. Marquette will play its first home lacrosse game on Saturday afternoon against Duquesne.

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Madison Memorial won its third straight WIAA boys’ state high school swimming title over the weekend at the UW Natatorium in Madison. Memorial defeated Madison West for the Division 1 crown. Alex DeLakis of Eau Claire Memorial-and-North became only the swimmer in history to win four straight title in the 100-yard breast-stroke. Monona Grove won the Division 2 boys’ championship over Madison Edgewood. Al Nennig of Grafton won gold in both the 100 back-stroke and the 50-freestyle.

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The Milwaukee Wave ended its team-record 16-game winning streak in the Major Indoor Soccer League with a 17-9 loss at Missouri yesterday. Milwaukee took a 4-0 lead into the second quarter, but Missouri tied the game by halftime. The Comets took the lead in the third quarter, and secured its victory with nine points in the final period. Milwaukee is now 7-2 on the road – and the Wave is a half-game behind first-place Baltimore in the MISL standings.

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A team from Russia won the World Ice Fishing Championships over the weekend in central Wisconsin. The U.S. team placed fourth among 11 nations competing on the Big Eau Pleine Flowage between Wausau and Marshfield. The Americans won the 2010 world title on Boom Lake near Rhinelander, but they placed 11th a year ago in Kazakhstan. Finland placed second this time, and Lithuania took third. Chad Schaub of Michigan was the top U.S. ice fishing competitor. He won his division – and he placed third overall.

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