DE PERE - St. Norbert College played its third one-possession game of the season against Benedictine University and the Green Knights prevailed in the rubber game with a well-played 54-51 victory in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinal game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (19-7) advance to face No. 20-ranked Wisconsin Lutheran College (22-1) in the NACC Tournament championship game at 2 p.m. Sunday in Milwaukee. Those two teams have also split a pair of one-possession games this season.
St. Norbert never trailed but could never escape Benedictine (17-10), which cut its deficit to one point three times in the fourth quarter but could never grab the lead. The Green Knights led 46-40 on
Kaycee Gierczak's layup on the first possession of the fourth quarter, but would not lead by more than four the rest of the game.
Olivia DeCleene's two free throws at the 5:15 mark but St. Norbert up 50-46, but the Eagles' Claire Gibler canned a 3-pointer at 3:38 to cut the margin to one point.
Jessica Boerner then connected on a baseline jumper at 3:20 for a 52-49 lead.
Alex Fanning converted a layup with 2 minutes left to again make it a one-point game. St. Norbert missed a 3-pointer with 1:36 left and Benedictine turned it over with 1:08 left. The Green Knights then milked the clock and missed two jump shots, but got both offensive rebounds, the latter with 19 seconds left. Gierczak converted a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left for a 54-51 lead. Benedictine had an open 3-pointer to force overtime, but Brilan McCory's shot was short and Gierczak corralled the rebound as time expired to secure the win.
St. Norbert led 10-2 in the early going, but Benedictine went on a 10-2 run to close the first quarter to tie the game at 12-12. The Green Knights then opened up a nine-point margin on a
Casey Jepson 3-pointer with 3:26 left in the second quarter for a 25-16 lead, but the Eagles then went on a 9-2 run to head into halftime trailing just 27-25. St. Norbert held an eight-point lead with 5:43 left in the third quarter at 39-31, but Benedictine again rallied to trail 44-40 heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
The Green Knights shot 21-for-52 (40.4 percent) from the floor. Boerner led the Green Knights with 18 points, while Gierczak added 12 points. DeCleene finished with eight points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Benedictine shot 39.6 percent (19-for-48) from the floor. Fanning led the Eagles with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while McCory added 10 points.
