WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Blue Devils (16-7, 9-5 WIAC) plunge into the final week of regular season play. The Blue Devils will travel to UW-River Falls (11-12, 2-12), Wednesday, Feb. 18, and will close the regular season by hosting UW-Whitewater (9-14, 5-9), Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will open WIAC tournament play, Monday, Feb. 23, at a site and opponent yet to be determined. Stout is currently the fourth seed. Earlier in the season, Stout defeated River Falls, 73-52, and Whitewater, 65-50. Last week: Stout crushed UW-La Crosse, 87-58, Feb. 11, and downed first placed UW-Oshkosh, 79-72, Feb. 14. Player of the week: Molly Hendricks, So, Blaine, Minn.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
The Blue Devils (13-9, 7-7 WIAC) close out the regular season this week when they travel to UW-River Falls (17-6, 10-4), Tuesday, Feb. 17, and host UW-Whitewater (19-4, 10-4) Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. Earlier in the season, Stout lost to River Falls, 71-63, and to Whitewater, 79-66. Whitewater and River Falls are tied with UW-Stevens Point for first place. Stout is currently tied with Oshkosh for fifth place, but hold the tie-breaker. Last week: The Blue Devils lost to UW-La Crosse, 67-60, Feb. 11, then bounced back to defeat UW-Oshkosh, 70-62, Feb. 14. Player of the week: Nate Templer, Sr, Beaver Dam, Wis.

HOCKEY
The Blue Devils (14-9-2, 5-7-2 NCHA, 3-4-1 WIAC) begin the second season this week when they participate in the NCHA tournament by traveling to Lake Forest College 17-5-3, 7-5-2) for a best of three series, Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21. The teams will play full games Friday and Saturday, and, if needed, a mini-game following Saturday's game. Stout finished the season tied with UW-Stevens Point for fifth, but received the tie-breaker. Lake Forest finished the season fourth and defeated Stout both times this season, 3-1, 4-1. Last week: The Blue Devils tied UW-Stevens Point, 3-3, Feb. 13 and defeated UW-Eau Claire, 4-2, Feb. 14. Player of the week: Mitch Kellin, Sr, Cohasset, Minn. (Grand Rapids)

GYMNASTICS
The Blue Devils will host Gustavus Adolphus, Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. Last week: Stout broke the 170 mark for the first time this season, but dropped a 171.375-181.875 decision at Hamline University, Feb. 13. Gymnast of the week: Lesley Rick, Fr, Birchwood, Minn. (Mahtomedi)

WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
The Blue Devils will host the Blue Devil Open, Friday, Feb. 20 beginning at 4 p.m. Last week: Stout placed fourth at the Border Battle at St. Olaf, Feb. 14. Track athlete of the week: Lindsay Kjolsing, Fr, Mankato, Minn. (East) Field athlete of the week: Becky Monyhan, Fr, Winona, Minn.

MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
The Blue Devils will host the Blue Devil Open, Friday, Feb. 20 beginning at 4 p.m. Last week: Stout placed fourth at the Border Battle at St. Olaf, Feb. 14. Track athlete of the week: Craig Kotsmith, Fr, Foreston, Minn. Field athlete of the week: Tony Fitts, So, Kewaskum, Wis.

Women's Basketball

February 14, 2004

Hendricks led from the get-go, tossing in 10 points in the first half, then added 13 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 1-minute, 6-seconds remaining, that pushed Stout out to a 71-66 lead. Hendricks also added the final two free throws as time ran down.

After Hendrick's 3-pointer, Stout (16-7, 9-5) forced an Oshkosh (18-4, 12-2) turnover with 42 seconds remaining by not allowing the Titans to inbound the ball in time.

Erin Churchill (Jr, Plum City) knocked down 7-of-8 free throws in the final 38 seconds to help salt the game away.

Oshkosh led for the first seven minutes of the game, but when Stout took the lead at 12:32 at 16-14 on a layup by Lindsey Erichsen (Jr, Spring Valley, Minn), the led the entire way except a brief Oshkosh lead just before halftime. Stout carried a 37-35 lead into halftime.

Oshkosh cut the lead to 48-47 at 13:33 in the second half, but that would be as close as the Titans would get. The largest lead Stout could build was eight points, 60-52, with 9:52 remaining.

Hendricks led all scorers, hitting 8-of-14 from the floor, 3-of-7 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the line. She also pulled down five rebounds and had four steals.

Sara Kahl (Sr, Menomonie) pitched in 16 points. Churchill and Erichsen each finished with 10 points and Erichsen had nine rebounds.

Brittany Herrick came off the bench to lead the Titans with 15 points. Kay Mikolajczak finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Laurie Turtenwald tossed in 13 points.

Stout forced 17 Oshkosh turnovers, while holding their turnovers to 11. Both teams shot well from the line. Oshkosh dropped in 22-of-28 charity shots, while Stout put down 23-of-29 free throws.

Stout will be at UW-River Falls, Wednesday, Feb. 18 and will host UW-Whitewater, Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

February 11, 2004

Laura Verdegan (Sr, Tony) lit the fuse for the run with a 3-pointer with 3-minutes, 14-seconds left in the opening stanza and took a 48-30 halftime lead. Stout (15-7, 8-5) expanded the lead to 31 points, 61-30, before the Eagles' Jaclyn Powell ended the drought with a 3-pointer.

Building a lead as much as 34 points at one time, the closest the Eagles (8-15, 2-12) could get the score was 24 points with 8:22 left.

Stout took advantage of 33 La Crosse turnovers, recording 21 steals, with six by Sara Kahl (Sr, Menomonie) and five by Molly Hendricks (So, Blaine, Minn).

La Crosse got 13 point from Amanda Cushman and 12 from Jana Merchlewitz.

The win extends Stout's winning streak over La Crosse to 17, stretching back to the 1991-92 season.

Men's Basketball

February 14, 2004

The Titans (13-10, 7-7) pushed their way to a nine point lead a couple of times in the first stanza, but the Blue Devils (13-9, 7-7) cut the lead to five points, 30-25, heading into the locker room.

Stout came out of the locker room on a 16-5 run with a well-balanced attack to take a 41-35 lead with 12:04 left in the game. The Blue Devils built that to 10 points with seven minutes left and never let the lead slip below four points. Stout hit six straight free throws - four by Jeff Vandenberghe (Sr, Coon Rapids, Minn) - in the final 39 second to put the game on ice.

Vandenberghe led Stout with 17 points, 10 in the second half. Vandenberghe hit one 3-pointer, which was enough to give him Stout's single season record for 3-pointers made.

Nate Templer (Sr, Beaver Dam) scored 14 points and Jacob Nonemacher (Fr, Kalispell, Mont) added 10 points. Terry Farmer (Fr, Kenosha) had a game-high nine rebounds as Stout controlled the boards, 37-24.

Jim Capelle led all scorers with 21 points. Andy Fernholz chipped in 14 and Kyle Pederson had 10 points.

Stout hit only 31 percent (9-of-29) of their first half shots, while the Titans connected hit 44 percent (10-of-23). Stout finished the game hitting 41 percent (24-of-59) and Oshkosh hit 44 percent (18-of-41).

Stout was nearly perfect at the line, hitting 17-of-18 charity shots. The Titans connected on 17-of-23.

Coupled with a 74-61 win earlier this season, today's win marks the first time Stout has swept Oshkosh since the 1994-95 season.

Stout will be at UW-River Falls, Tuesday, Feb. 17 and will close out the regular season, Saturday, Feb. 21 by hosting UW-Whitewater at 5 p.m.

February 10, 2004

The senior business major, after missing a lay-up, rebounded the lay-up, made a free throw, hit a 3-pointer and a half-court shot in less than 24 seconds to win a semester of free tuition during a halftime promotion.

While Liddel hit 80 percent of his shots, the Blue Devils were making 24 percent in the first half to fall behind, 36-18, at halftime to UW-La Crosse.

The Eagles went on to a 67-60 win, Tuesday, Feb. 10 at Johnson Fieldhouse, but not before the Blue Devils made the game interesting at the end.

Trailing by as much as 19 points in the second half, Stout (12-9, 6-7) pulled to within six points with 14 seconds left, but ran out of time as the Eagles (10-13, 3-11) recorded their third straight conference win.

Stout, trailing 36-18 coming out of the halftime locker room, went on a 6-0 run to pull to within 12 points, 36-24. The Eagles answered with their own 12-0 run to double the score again, 48-24. Stout cracked off a 10-0 run to get to 48-34. In the final three minutes, Stout went on a 15-4 run to tighten the gap to six points, 63-67, then sent the Eagles to the free throw line for four points.

Stout ended the game shooting 35 percent (23-of-66), while the Eagles, who shot 57 percent in the first half, cooled down to 46 percent (25-of-54).

The Eagles' Casey Taggatz led all scorers with 26 points, 13 in each half. Joe Werner added 15 points.

Stout got 12 points from Greg Chaisson (So, Minneapolis, Minn) and 10 points from Nate Templer (Sr, Beaver Dam).

Jeff Vandenberghe (Sr, Coon Rapids, Minn) was held to six points, two 3-pointers, which tied him for the single season school record of 3-pointers made. Vandenberghe now has 65 3-pointers this season, tying him with Pete Binelas from the 1993-94 season.

Men's Ice Hockey

February 14, 2004

Dan Riffe (Sr, Byron, Ill) opened up the scoring with an unassisted goal seven minutes into the game. Nine minutes later, Andy Weisner (Fr, Rochester, Minn) scored the first of his two goals on the evening, getting an assist from Mitch Kellin (Sr, Cohasset, Minn) to give Stout (14-9-2, 5-7-2) to give Stout a 2-0 lead.

With seven minutes off the clock in the second period, Derek Nichols (Sr, Victoria, Minn) scored, with an assist by Todd Wynia (Fr, Minneapolis, Minn).

The Blugolds (14-10-1) got on the board twice in the third period with goals by Andy Klapperick and Phil Cherneski.

Weisner iced the game with 6:32 left in the game, a power play goal with assists by Rob Olszewski (Fr, Janesville) and Wynia.

Eau Claire outshot Stout, 44-29, with the Blue Devils' Jeff Dotson (Sr, Chanhassen, Minn) recording 42 saves. Stefan Braunlich had 25 saves.

Stout finishes the NCHA season in a tie with UW-Stevens Point for fifth place, but wins the higher seed on a tie breaker. Stout will advance to the NCHA quarterfinals, Feb. 20-21, by traveling to Lake Forest College.

February 13, 2004

STEVENS POINT - Mitch Kellin's (Sr, Cohasset, Minn) second goal of the evening lifted UW-Stout to a 3-3 tie at UW-Stevens Point, Friday, Feb. 13, Stout's second consecutive tie of the season.

Kellin, who scored the opening goal of the evening in the first period, scored only 43 seconds after the Pointers had taken a 3-2 lead in the third period. The Pointers Nick Zebro scored at 6:23 on the power play, but Kellin answered back at 6:56 with assists by Scott Hellquist (Fr, Bemidji, Minn) and Dan Riffe (Sr, Byron, Ill).

Kellin's first goal was the only goal of the first period. Stout took a 2-0 lead in the second period on a goal by John Schaffner (Jr, Janesville) with 4:42 off the clock. The Pointers scored twice in the period, on two goals by Dan Francis, to knot the game at 2-2..

The Pointers outshot Stout, 37-27, with the Blue Devils' Jeff Dotson (Sr, Chanhassen, Minn) stopping 34 and the Pointers' Ryan Scott blocking 24.

Women's Gymnastics

February 13, 2004

ST. PAUL, Minn - Rhian Paulson (So, Stillwater, Minn), captured UW-Stout's only first place finish, but the Blue Devils raised their team score for the second consecutive meet, Friday, Feb. 13 at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.

Paulson took Stout's only first place finish, this time on the floor exercise, where she scored a 9.55. Paulson took a pair of third place finishes on the balance beam (9.40) and the vault (9.325). The Blue Devils were toppled by the Pipers, 181.875-171.375.

Lesley Rick (Fr, Birchwood, Minn) was second in the all-around (34.40) and Shanna Kissinger (So, Sioux City, Iowa) was third (34.20) in the event.

Stout is back in action, Wednesday, Feb. 18 when they host Gustavus Adolphus at 7 p.m.

Uneven bars: 1. Brittany Ehlis (Hamline) 9.075; 4. Shanna Kissinger 8.55; 5. Lesley Rick 8.50; 9. Lacey Schroedl 7.60; 10. Erin Kampa 7.00; 11. Robyn Niederkorn 6.450; 12. Christine Sobczyk 5.35;

Balance beam: 1. Melanie Axvig (Hamline) 9.45; 3. Rhian Paulson 9.40; 6. Caitlin Burch 8.80; 7. Lacey Schroedl 8.725; 10. Shanna Kissinger 8.40; 11. Lesley Rick 8.325; 12. Helen Pansch 8.05;

Floor exercise: 1. Rhian Paulson (Stout) 9.55; 8. Jennie Rosinsky 8.90; 9. Helen Pansch 8.875; 10. Liz Karkula 8.50; 11. Lesley Rick 8.35; 12. Shanna Kissinger 8.25;

All-around: 1. Brittany Ehlis (Hamline) 36.375; 2. Lesley Rick 34.40; 3. Shanna Kissinger 34.20.

Women's Track & Field

February 14, 2004