DE PERE - St. Norbert College extended its winning streak to nine with a 54-43 win over Edgewood College in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights (15-9, 12-3 NACC) knocked Edgewood (13-10, 12-2) out of a share of first place with Wisconsin Lutheran College. St. Norbert can still earn the No. 2 seeding for the NACC Tournament should it beat Benedictine in its regular-season finale and Wisconsin Lutheran tops Edgewood, with both games on Wednesday.
Things started slowly for both teams before the Eagles closed the first quarter on a 4-0 run to take an 11-8 lead. Edgewood added to its lead as it built a pair of nine-point leads, the latter at 22-13 with 5:47 left in the second quarter. St. Norbert then went on an 8-0 run to get back into the game, with a layup by
Chloe Gruszynski, a free throw from
Macey Mercer, a layup by
Taylor Thiry and a free throw by
Oakley Witteck to cut it to 22-21 with 3:08 left. Edgewood would score four of the last six points of the quarter to take a 26-23 lead at halftime.
Emma Morrisey opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer tie tie the game before Edgewood got a basket on its next possession for its last lead of the game at 28-26. The rest of the quarter belonged to St. Norbert, which went on an 18-0 run to take a 44-28 lead. Thiry started the run with seven points, including splashing a 3-pointer. Gruszynski then finished a layup for a nine-point edge.
Kalina Winslow then buried a 3-pointer,
Marnie Kahl split a pair of free throws and Thiry hit a jumper and a free throw for the 16-point lead with 2:18 left in the quarter. St. Norbert led 44-32 after three quarters.
St. Norbert scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to effectively decide the outcome. Witteck and
Rose Hahn had baskets and Morrisey drained a 3-pointer for a 51-32 lead with 6:59 to go. Edgewood would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
St. Norbert shot 34.9 percent (22-for-63) from the floor and held a 45-31 rebounding advantage, with 16 offensive rebounds leading to 12 second-chance points. Thiry finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the Green Knights. Morrisey and Gruszynski had eight points apiece, with Gruszynski adding seven rebounds.
Edgewood shot 34.7 percent (17-for-49) from the floor and was 1-for-17 (5.9 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Vivian Guerrero had 18 points, while Kallie Norby added 15 points.
