WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Blue Devils (3-1, 0-0) will open the 2005-06 WIAC schedule this week, and what better opponent than to host arch-rival UW-Eau Claire (3-2, 0-0), Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at Johnson Fieldhouse. The Blue Devils will host UW-Platteville (3-2, 0-0), Saturday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. The Platteville game will be broadcast by WMEQ 880-AM (also available at: www.wmeq.com). Stout went 2-1 against Eau Claire last season, splitting the regular season with a 75-58 win in Menomonie, but dropping a 55-47 contest at Eau Claire. Stout won, 70-65, in the WIAC semi-finals at Johnson Fieldhouse. The Blue Devils swept Platteville last season, 76-67 in Platteville and 68-54 in Menomonie. Last week: The Blue Devils went 2-0 on the week, downing Northwestern College, 74-56, Nov. 22 and crushing Northland College, 83-43, Nov. 27. Player of the week: Molly Hendricks, Sr, Blaine, Minn.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
The Blue Devils (3-1, 0-0) jump into conference play this week by traveling to UW-Eau Claire (3-1, 0-0), Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will host UW-Platteville (3-2, 0-0), Saturday, Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. Both games are scheduled to be broadcast on WMEQ 880-AM radio (www.wmeq.com). The Blue Devils swept Eau Claire last year, winning 92-85 at Eau Claire and 76-54 at Menomonie. Stout dropped both contests to Platteville, losing 67-59 in Platteville and 56-51 in Menomonie. Last week: The Blue Devils defeated Macalester College, 64-55, Nov. 21, and downed Northland College, 68-63, Nov. 27. Player of the week: Ryan Stangl, So, Spring Valley, Wis.

HOCKEY
The Blue Devils (6-4-0, 2-0-0 NCHA, 2-0-0 WIAC) will return to NCHA play this week when they make their longest road trip of the season. Stout will travel to St. Norbert (7-2-2, 1-1-2), Friday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m., and will be at Lake Forest College (5-6-0, 2-2-0), Saturday, Dec. 3 at 2:30 p.m. The St. Norbert College game will be available on the internet at: www.snc.edu/athletics/hockey/webcast.htm Last week: Stout went 1-1 at the Division III College Hockey Showcase, falling to No. 9 Bethel University, 4-0, Nov. 25, but bouncing back to down Finlandia University, 5-2, Nov. 26. Player of the week: Andy Wiesner, Jr, Rochester, Minn. (Marshall)

Women's Basketball

BLUE DEVILS PULL AWAY FROM NORTHLAND IN SECOND HALF

MENOMONIE (November 27, 2005) - For a while there, it looked like no one really wanted to score. But UW-Stout doubled the score at halftime, 30-15, then pulled away from Northland College in the second half for an 83-43 non-conference win over the Lumberjills Sunday at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout (3-1) was never seriously threatened, jumping out to an 8-0 lead after four minutes, but the Lumberjills (1-2) pulled to within 14-8 midway through the period. It would get no closer than that the rest of the way and once Stout built a double digit, 24-13, lead with two minutes remaining in the first half, the score would never dip under double figures.

Kelsey Duoss (Jr, Janesville) scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the first half and also pulled down eight of her game-high nine rebounds before the intermission. Duoss also blocked three shots, all in the first period.

Jenny McDermid (Jr, Oconto Falls) contributed to the first half cause, scoring all six of her points in the first 10 minutes of the game.

The much taller Blue Devils completely dominated the boards, especially in the second half. Stout recorded 65 rebounds to Northland's 30.

Alisha Doppenberg (Fr, Annandale, Minn) cleared six rebounds, while Molly Hendricks (Sr, Blaine, Minn), Savanah Oeltjen (Jr, Spring Valley, Minn), Courtney Oelkers (So, Arcadia) and McDermid all finished with five rebounds.

Dani Boese (Fr, Alma) came off the bench to score eight points for Stout, while Nikki Wyngaard (Fr, Kimberly) scored seven points in four minutes of play.

Northland got 14 points from Evelyn Hoosier, and eight points from Rachel Ehrhardt.

Stout will host UW-Eau Claire, Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., then UW-Platteville, Saturday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. and UW-Superior, Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (November 22, 2005) - It took UW-Stout more than five minutes to get going, and even then, the Blue Devils struggled against a pesky Northwestern, Minn, College squad in St. Paul, Minn.

The two teams struggled for points and the score was knotted 3-3 seven minutes into the game. But Stout eventually jumped out to a double digit lead and were never seriously threatened, and the Blue Devils (2-1) went on to a 74-56 win and hand the Eagles their first loss in their gym in 10 games.

Stout's defense put the wraps on the Eagles (2-1), forcing 34 turnovers.

Stout's Kelsey Duoss (Jr, Janesville), who was recently named the WIAC player of the week, led all scorers with 19 points, hitting 9-of-16 from the floor. Molly Hendricks (Sr, Blaine, Minn) scored 12 points, hitting four 3-pointers.

The Eagles were led by Heather Thompson with 14 points. Julie Ross had 11 points and Hannah McEvoy finished with 10.

Stout led the rebounding battle, pulling down 42 to Northwestern's 29.

MENOMONIE (November 22, 2005) - UW-Stout forward Kelsey Duoss (Jr, Janesville/Clinton) tallied 48 points on the weekend against two NCAA Division II schools, scoring 31 points in an 89-86 overtime win over Minnesota State, Mankato, and 17 points in a 92-75 loss to No. 10 ranked St. Cloud State. Duoss was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) athlete of the week.

Against Mankato, finished with six rebounds and six blocked shots and was 12-of-15 from the floor. Against St. Cloud, Duoss collected eight rebounds and three blocked shots. On the weekend, she was 19-of-28 from the floor, 10-fo-20 from the line, had 14 rebounds, two assists and nine blocked shots.

Men's Basketball

BLUE DEVILS STRUGGLE TO PUT AWAY WINLESS LUMBERJACKS

MENOMONIE (November 27, 2005) - UW-Stout just could not put away Northland College. Every time it seemed as if the Blue Devils would increase the lead to a comfortable margin, the Lumberjacks would come back. But eventually, the Blue Devils battled their way to a 68-63 win over the winless Lumberjacks, Sunday, at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Northland (0-3) held an early 5-0 lead, but once Stout (3-1) took the lead, 10-8, with eight minutes off the clock in the first half, the Blue Devils would never trail the rest of the game. But Northland would make the game very interesting throughout and tied the game a couple of times.

Stout built a 24-14 lead with six minutes left in the first half, but Northland would cut the lead to one, 33-32, with six seconds remaining in the half before a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Stout's Greg Chaisson (Sr, Minneapolis, Minn) gave a 36-32 intermission lead.

Stout would open the second half on a 10-2 run to open the second half, but Northland would pull to within two at the nine minute mark, and hang around the rest of the afternoon, knotting the score at 55 with 5:57 left in the game.

Two free throws and a bucket by Eric Heisler (So, Burnsville, Minn), a layup off a steal by Chaisson and a 3-pointer by Adam Chandler (So, Burnsville, Minn) pushed the margin up to nine points, 66-57, with 1:21 left in the game and Stout was able to hold off the Lumberjacks after that by the free throw line.

The Lumberjacks' Mike Christenson led all scorers with 20 points hitting four 3-pointers - while Mitch Oetken popped in 16 points. John Hoekstra had nearly half of Northland's rebounds, pulling down 12-of-25.

Stout's three starting guard's accounted for a majority of the scoring, with Chaisson recording 14 points, and Ryan Stangl (So, Spring Valley) and Chandler finishing with 13 each. Chaisson led Stout on the boards with 10 rebounds, recording a double-double. Stout finished with 34 total rebounds.

The Blue Devils will be at UW-Eau Claire, Wednesday, Nov. 30, then will host UW-Platteville, Saturday, Dec. 3 at 5 p.m., before heading to UW-Superior, Wednesday, Dec. 7.

ST. PAUL, Minn (November 21, 2005) - UW-Stout jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead, then went on to defeat Macalester College, 64-55, Monday.

Ryan Stangl (So, Spring Valley) split his 20 points evenly between the two halves, and was backed up by 12 points from fellow guard Adam Chandler (So, Burnsville, Minn).

The Blue Devils (2-1) built up as much as a 24-point first half lead, but the Scots (0-2) - and Tom Conboy in particular - cut away at the lead. Conboy matched Stangl's first half 10 points but went on to finish with a game-high 27 points. While Stout held a double-digit lead through the first 14 minutes of the second stanza, Macalester got as close as four points several times in the final six minutes.

Chandler would prove to keep Macalester at bay, hitting a jumper with 2:22 remaining to push the lead to 60-54. Neither team would score from the floor the rest of the way. After Macalester's Brendan Bosman hit one of the two free throws, Chandler knocked down two free throws with 51 seconds remaining and Stangl made two charity shots with 22 seconds left to close otu the scoring.

Neither team shot particularly well. Stout finished the game hitting 37.7 percent, while the Scots hit 36.5 percent.

Stout's Terry Farmer (Sr, Kenosha) was the only other player to score in double-digits, racking up 10 points. Bosman finished with 10 rebounds for Macalester, which out-boarded Stout, 41-38.

Men's Ice Hockey

THREE-GOAL SURGE IN FIRST HELPS LIFT STOUT OVER FINLANDIA, 5-2

BLAINE, Minn (November 26, 2005) - It didn't take UW-Stout long to get back on track following Friday's 4-0 setback to Bethel (Minn) University.

To be more precise, it took them 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

With 137 seconds elapsed in the Blue Devils' eventual 5-2 defeat of Finlandia (2-4) University Saturday afternoon in the North Rink consolation game at the Division III Hockey Showcase in Blaine, Minn, Andy Weisner (Jr, Rochester, Minn) slapped home a goal assisted by Andrew Bader (Fr, Beaverton, Ore) and Justin Huth (Sr, Shakopee, Minn) to put Stout up 1-0.

Instead of resting on its laurels until Finlandia answered back, the Blue Devils wisely capitalized by their early momentum generation.

Three minutes after Weisner's tally, Mike Elm (Sr, Falcon Heights, Minn) put the biscuit in the basket on a pass from Scott Sikkink (So, Chippewa Falls) to build a 2-0 advantage for Stout (6-4), which has now won four of its last five games.

Before the final first-period whistle, Stout upped its lead to 3-0, as, with 10:47 elapsed in the frame, Weisner provided his second score of the tilt. This time, he was assisted by Nick Klaren (Fr, North St. Paul, Minn) and Jake Erickson (So, Rochester, Minn).

Stout owned a comfy, if not absolutely secure, edge heading into the middle frame, but Finlandia decided to do its best impression of a mosquito.

After cutting Stout's lead to two nine minutes into the second period, Finlandia brought the count to 3-2 at the 16:15 mark.

With the "Big Mo" firmly in Finlandia's grip, a Klaren shot found the net's back at the 16:31 mark to give the Blue Devils a shot of adrenaline that carried them for the game's balance. Jeff DeFrancesca (Jr, Mt. Prospect) and Erickson earned assists on that crucial play in the game.

"Huge," said Blue Devil coach Terry Watkins of his team's quick answer back. "They get back in it and we have a ballgame. Sixteen seconds later, we turn off the heat."

Sikkink tacked on a third-stanza goal assisted by Huth and Elm to ice Stout's cake.

Blue Devil goalie Mike Stone (So, West St. Paul, Minn) turned away 23 Finlandia shots. Finlandia's netminder recorded 33 saves. Thus, Stout outshot Finlandia, 38-25.

The Blue Devils capitalized on 1-of-5 power play chances, while Finlandia went 0-for-6 on the power play.

"We haven't allowed a power play in five games now," Watkins said. "Our penalty kill has been awesome."

Stout will return to action Friday, Dec. 2, when it travels to Green Bay to square off with St. Norbert in a contest scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

BLAINE, Minn (November 25, 2005) - UW-Stout entered Friday afternoon's contest vs. Bethel (Minn) University at Blaine's Division III College Hockey Showcase with the number four in mind.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the number four came into play in a much different manner than that for which they were hoping.

Riding a three-game winning streak heading into Fogerty Arena, Stout fell behind early and dropped a 4-0 decision to Bethel. The Blue Devils will participate in the South Rink consolation contest Saturday, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Stout will play Finlandia, a 2-1 loser to Hamline Friday night.

The Royals' Steve Eastman broke the scoring ice, putting the biscuit in the basket on assists from Kent Bostrom and Dan Bonne at the 4-minute mark of the opening period. With Bethel ahead, 2-0, in the second stanza, Eastman found the back of the net again, netting a goal of the unassisted variety.

Bostrom tacked on a third-period score assisted by Bill Menozzi.

Blue Devil netminder Matt Koenig (Fr, Lakeland, Minn) deflected 28 Bethel shots in 60 minutes of action. Dustin Thompson turned away all 23 Stout shots for Bethel, which entered the contest ranked No. 9 nationally.

Bethel outshot the Blue Devils, 32-23, despite being outshot, 10-8, in the third period.

Neither squad experienced much power play luck, with Stout going 0-for-4 and Bethel 0-for-3.

Soccer

HEIDI SCHULTZ PLACED ON ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN TEAM

MENOMONIE (November 22, 2005) - UW-Stout defensive midfielder Heidi Schultz (Sr, River Falls) has been chosen to the third team of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women’s Soccer Teams. The teams are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Schultz, a key defensive midfielder and team captain for the Blue Devils who was named first team all-WIAC this year, played a big part in Stout's defensive stance that allowed only 12 goals and posted 10 shutouts this season. Schultz started every game since the first week of her freshman year, marking 71 consecutive games.

A business administration major with a 3.95 grade point average, Schultz has received the UW-Stout Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence, been named to the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll, is a UW-Stout Foundation scholarship recipient, a member of the National Honor Society and the Students Offering Support (SOS) organization, and is two-time academic all-region recipient.

Schultz, who studied in Mexico for the 2005 spring semester, was a WIAC player of the week, Sept. 20, 2005, and finished the season with two goals and three assists. She hit the game-winning goal in the WIAC quarterfinals against UW-La Crosse in overtime.

Updated: November 28, 2005