DE PERE – St. Norbert College secured a key Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win over Wisconsin Lutheran College in a 64-53 victory at Mulva Family Fitness and Sports Center, separating from a tight game deep in the fourth quarter.
The Green Knights (8-5, 6-0 NACC) won their fourth straight and marked the 100th win for head coach Amanda Leonhard-Perry at St. Norbert.
St. Norbert took a lead in the middle of the first quarter thanks to four points from Taylor Thiry and five from Rose Hahn, who scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Green Knights a 9-7 advantage with 6:06 remaining in the period. A 7-0 run from the Warriors made it 17-11 near the end of the opening period but a layup from Oakley Witteck (pictured) cut the lead down to 19-15.
St. Norbert held Wisconsin Lutheran to just 10 points in the second period and retook the lead thanks to a 12-0 run with Marnie Kahl hitting several clutch jump shots under pressure. The Warriors clawed back to within a point before Olivia Conway scored a layup to make it 32-29 at halftime.
Wisconsin Lutheran opened the second half on a 5-0 run to take a one-point lead, but with work in the paint led by Thiry it was a 45-38 St. Norbert lead with 10 minutes left to play. A 3-ponter from Hahn gave St. Norbert its biggest lead up to that point with a 48-38 advantage. The Warriors shot just 29.41 percent in the fourth quarter, getting to within a two possession game just once before the Green Knights made timely free throws to extend the lead in the final 90 seconds.
St. Norbert shot 46 percent from the floor (23-for-50). Thiry led with 16 points and six rebounds while Hahn had 15 points and seven boards. Conway had nine points and dished out seven assists while Witteck had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Thiry moved to 11th on the all-time St. Norbert scoring list, surpassing Becky Dickhut '82 and Becky Coenen '81 with 1,165 career points.
Wisconsin Lutheran shot 30.2 percent from the floor (19-for-63). Margie Stevens led the Warriors with 16 points.
