Men's Basketball

December 11, 1999

MENOMONIE - Down by 14 points midway through the second half, the UW-Stout men's basketball team held UW-Eau Claire scoreless for more than six minutes, but could only make a small dent and fell to the Blugolds, 63-52, Saturday, Dec. 11 at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Trailing 57-43 with seven minutes, 36 seconds remaining, the Blue Devils (6-3, 0-3) made a mini-run, getting four points from Casey Chapman (Fr, Hartland), a jumper by Ben Kuepers (Sr, Dickeyville), two free throws by Jeremy Leibfried (Sr, Dickeyville) and a single charity shot by Chris Selz (Fr, Eau Claire) to pull to within 57-50.

But the Blugolds (5-0, 3-0) hit six consecutive free throws in the final 1:18 to take the win.

Poor shooting throughout the game hurt the Blue Devils, hitting only 28 percent in the first half and 31 percent in the second half. Stout connected on only 1-of-13 3-pointers, and that came early in the first half.

Kuepers led all scorers with 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, while Leibfried contributed 16 points.

Dave Mellenthin had 16 points to lead the Blugolds. Sherm Carstensen finished with 15 points, Matt Fermanich 14 points and Jon Wallenfelsz 13 points and 16 rebounds.

Stout returns to action Tuesday, Dec. 14 when they travel to Northwestern College in Roseville, Minn.

December 7, 1999

MENOMONIE - UW-Stout sunk six consecutive free throws in the last 30 seconds to down Bethel College, 78-72, Tuesday, Dec. 7, in a non-conference contest at Johnson Fieldhouse.

After the Royals' Brett Repasky hit two charity shots to give Bethel a 72-70 lead, Stout's Ben Kuepers (Sr, Dickeyville) was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. Kuepers missed the first, but drained the final two.

The Royals (3-2) missed their chance to tie, and the Blue Devils' Pat Von Feldt (Jr, Stevens Point) wound up with the ball and was fouled in the backcourt with three seconds left. Following much discussion with the officials, the Bethel bench was given a technical foul and Von Feldt nailed all four shots.

Stout (6-2) needed to come back in the game, trailing 34-26 at halftime. In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, the Blue Devils played "bombs away", hitting seven 3-pointers in the second half. Stout finished with 12 3-pointers on the night.

Stout's Jeremy Leibfried (Sr, Dickeyville) led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 5-of-12 long range bombs. Von Feldt finished the night with 20 points, htting 4-of-7 3-pointers.

Stout had a decided edge at the line, hitting 22-of-29 charity shots, while the Royals made 5-of-8 chances.

Women's Basketball

December 11, 1999

EAU CLAIRE - UW-Eau Claire's Jayme Anderson showed why she may be the best player in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) as she scored 24 of her game-high 32 points in the first half to lead Eau Claire to a 100-68 thumping of UW-Stout Saturday, Dec. 11 at Zorn Arena.

The two teams checked each other out early before the Blugolds went off on a 23-10 run and took a 55-35 lead into intermission. In the second half, the Blugolds (8-0, 3-0) ran up to a near- or plus-30 point lead for most of the half.

Andrea Bresette (Sr, Ashland) led Stout (5-2, 2-1) with 13 points, while Aslynn Johnson (Jr, Clinton) and Jamie Retzloff (Fr, Strum) each contributed 10 points.

Anderson hit 13-of-22 from the floor. Vanessa Schley added 13 points and Meagan Whatley 12.

The teams were relatively even on the boards, with Eau Claire pulling down 46 caroms to Stout's 44. Eau Claire shot 51 percent for the night, while Stout hit 41 percent from the field.

Stout is back in action Saturday, Dec. 18 when they travel to Northwestern College, then return home to host Northland College, Sunday, Dec. 19 at 3 p.m.

December 6, 1999

MENOMONIE - For the third consecutive game, the UW-Stout women's basketball team held their opponent to less than 20 first half points as the Blue Devils cruised to an 82-44 non-conference win over Mt. Senario, Monday, Dec. 6 at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Coach Mark Thomas got a chance to rest his starters early and often as, after a slow start - it took two minutes for anyone to score - Stout (5-1) shot out to a 21-13 lead halfway through the first half. The Blue Devils went on a 31-2 run to close out the half with a 52-15 lead.

In the last three games, Stout's opponents are averaging 14.3 points in the first half, allowing 16, 12, and 15 points, respectively.

Freshmen Jessie Herrman (Barron) and Jamie Retzloff (Strum) came off the bench to lead the offensive attack in the first half. Herrman racked up all 10 of her points in the first stanza, and Retzloff got 10 of her 14 points before the break.

Amy Zelinger (So, Racine) matched Retzloff's 14 points, and she added five steals. Heather Peterson (Sr, Altoona) had 12 points, five steals and seven rebounds.

Stout forced 36 Mt. Senario (2-12) turnovers and collected 20 steals.

The Saints were led by Jill Byrne with 20 points and Deanna Roehl with 16 points.

Men's Ice Hockey

December 11, 1999

MENOMONIE - Concordia-Moorhead scored every way they could to hand UW-Stout a 5-1 non-conference men's hockey loss Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Dunn County Ice Arena.

The Cobbers (6-2-2) scattered two short-handed goals, a power play goal and an empty net goal over all three periods.

Concordia opened up the scoring when Ken Putt scored his first of two goals in the first period on the power play at the 11-minute, 32-second mark. The Blue Devils' (3-10-1) Brad Weappa (Jr, Brooklyn Center, Minn) brought Stout back to even in the first period, netting an unassisted goal at the 14-minute mark.

The Cobbers came back with two goals in the second and added two short handed goals in the third.

Concordia outshot Stout, 42-26, as Stout goalie Justin Wiskie (Fr, Janesville) turned back 37 shots.

The Blue Devils are off until Jan. 7 when they host St. Olaf at 7:30 p.m.

December 10, 1999

MENOMONIE - St. John's University scored three second half goals to lift them over UW-Stout, 5-3, in a non-conference contest at the Dunn County Ice Arena Friday, Dec. 10.

The Blue Devils (3-9-1) got on the board first, when Drew Nichols (So, Victoria, Minn) scored midway through the first period. Nichols took assists from Kevin Aube (Jr, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich) and Tony Sikich (Fr, Apple Valley, Minn).

St. John's wasted little time in the second period, going on the attack and scoring 31 seconds into the period to take a 2-1 lead. Stout evened up the score only three minutes later when Andrew Fenton (Fr, Russell, Manitoba) scored, getting help from Steve Holeczy (Sr, Lincolnshire, Ill) and Cullen Flaherty (Fr, Duluth, Minn).

The visitors took the lead for good at the 8:01 mark, then added another four minutes later to take a 4-2 lead.

Scoring came early in the third period, with Stout's Holeczy scoring four minutes in, with assists from Shane Maher (Jr, Forest Lake, Minn) and Fenton. The Johnnies closed out the scoring three minutes later with a power play goal.

Blue Devil goal Mark Gugliuzza (Fr, Medford) stopped 38 shots as St. John's outshot Stout, 43-19.

Women's Gymnastics

December 7, 1999

MENOMONIE - UW-Stout freshman gymnast Tasha Pasch (Northfield, Minn) was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) gymnast of the week for her performance against UW-La Crosse, Friday, Dec. 3.

In her first collegiate meet, Pasch took first on the uneven bars with an 8.40 against defending national champion La Crosse. Pasch was second on the vault (8.95), seventh on the beam (8.00) and third on the floor (8.60). In the all-around, she finished second (33.95) only to Kari Motz of La Crosse who was the national runner-up in the all-around last season.

The Blue Devils, as a team, fell to the Eagles, 170.275-160.00, but Stout's score shows a vast team improvement over last year.

Stout returns to action Wednesday, Dec. 15 when they travel to UW-River Falls.

Updated: December 13, 1999