DE PERE - St. Norbert College got solid play throughout its lineup as the Green Knights improved to 2-0 with a 64-49 win over Carthage College on the second day of the Nicolet National Bank Tip-Off Tournament on Connie Tilley Court at Mulva Sports Center.
The Green Knights and UW-La Crosse went 2-0 in the classic-style tournament format. St. Norbert's
Olivia DeCleene was named Tournament MVP after nearly posting a triple-double in both games and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammate
Kaycee Gierczak. Also selected All-Tournament were UW-La Crosse's Lauryn Milne and Carly Coulthart, Carthage's Lauren Knight and Lawrence University's Maggie Culver.
St. Norbert got out to a hot start against Carthage, with four different players accounting for scoring in a 10-2 run to open the game's first four minutes. Carthage would go on a 10-1 run to take a 12-11 lead, but a Gierczak layup and a DeCleene free throw put St. Norbert up 14-12 after one quarter.
The second quarter went to-and-fro with eight lead changes, until a
Casey Jepson 3-pointer put St. Norbert ahead 30-28 with 1:19 left. A DeCleene trey just before the halftime buzzer gave the Green Knights a 35-30 lead at intermission.
St. Norbert built its lead when
Chloe Gruszynski hit a layup and 3-pointer and
Emma Morrisey added a triple for a 43-30 lead with 7:18 left in the quarter. Morrisey,
Natalie Cerrato and Morrisey again drained 3s for a 52-34 lead with 5:09 left.
Lindsey Lettner's step back jumper at the end of the third quarter put St. Norbert ahead 57-43 with 10 minutes to play.
The Green Knights scored just seven points in the fourth quarter, but held off Carthage by holding the Firebirds to just six.
St. Norbert shot 40 percent for the game, making 22 of 55 field-goal attempts. Gierczak had 17 points and 11 rebounds. DeCleene narrowly missed a triple-double, stuffing the stat sheet with 12 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. In the tournament, DeCleene had 15 assists to one turnover in 71 minutes. Morrisey finished with 11 points.
Carthage shot 26.8 percent from the floor, making 15 of 56 field-goal attempts. Knight finished with a team-high 14 points.
