Was over at Northwestern's Ericksen Center last night to take in the 5:30 P.M. non-conference clash between up-and-coming UW-Superior out of the WIAC and host Northwestern from the UMAC. This was my very first look at the UW-Superior squad outside of the summer league and at the end of the night I would come away VERY impressed.
The night started out on a bright note for the host Eagles as junior guard Mollie Sir and sophomore guard Chanel Madson performed an incredibly sweet-sounding duet for the National Anthem that rocked the house. Unfortunately for Northwestern, the shooting touch on this night wasn't quite as solid as the singing was. Still, the Eagles and Yellowjackets were neck-and-neck for the first 8-9 minutes. Sir got the Eagles going first with her jumper in transition at the 18:28 mark and Northwestern increased the lead to 5-2 when Madson was able to score inside and got fouled in the process and made the obligatory freebie at the 17:40 mark. UW-Superior countered with senior forward Hillary Peterson's move inside and a shot the beat the shot clock at the 17:10 mark and a jumper by sophomore sensation Sally Linzmeier (just a hint of things to come from her) at the 16:42 mark. Senior guard Connie Urmanski's "3" at the 16:03 mark gave the Yellowjackets a 9-7 lead but the Eagles came right back when junior forward/post Jessica Fife made a strong move inside at the 15:32 mark to finish. Linzmeier scored on a lay-up in transition at the 14:32 mark and then freshman forward Courtney Cunard connected with a jumper along the right baseline at the 11:50 mark to tie things at 11-all. It LOOKED as if we might have a heckuva battle on our hands at that point.
But, as we all know, looks can be incredibly deceiving sometimes and it was on this night. Junior reserve guard Britnee Blake scored at the 11:30 mark to give the Yellowjackets a 13-11 lead and UW-Superior never looked back as they Yellowjackets proceeded to go on a 15-0 run over the next four minutes that changed the course of the game for good. The run was highlighted by some incredible play by Linzmeier who scored off of one steal at the 10:32 mark and then again was a thief in the night with another steal and lay-up at the 10:26 mark along with a score inside at the 10:12 mark. The only fly in the ointment at the time for UW-Superior was that senior guard Kailee McDonald had picked up three quick (and questionable) fouls during this period although that didn't seem to faze her too much as she calmly banged home a "3" at the 7:51 mark from the top of the key. Linzmeier increased the Yellowjacket lead to 32-13 by the 4:17 mark with yet ANOTHER steal and lay-up before Northwestern finally caught their collective breaths and made a dent into the UW-Superior bulge. Sir connected with another running jumper at the 3:23 mark and then Cunard also connected with a "3" at the 2:32 mark that helped the Eagles slice into the UW-Superior advantage at halftime; down 34-21.
The Sally Linzmeier show made an encore second half performance as well as she helped the Yellowjackets get off to a roaring start after the halftime break. She made a steal and lay-up at the 18:47 mark and grabbed a rebound and got a putback at the 17:18 mark that sandwiched two freebies from the charity stripe at the 18:09 mark.. Down 45-23 at this point, Northwestern tried to respond with a lights out downtown shooting display as Sir, Madson, and Cunard all displayed their three-point prowess within a span of two minutes but each time the Yellowjackets had an answer as they were able to maintain that 16-20 cushion and upped the lead to as much as 25 points by the 5:25 mark. UW-Superior did the damage with a fantastic defensive effort that put a lot of pressure on the Northwestern guards in the half court that really took the Eagles out of their rythm which was really the game in a nutshell. The final 76-55 score really wasn't even that close to be honest. This Yellowjacket team is not your typical WIAC team that beats you down with brute physical brutality a la UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, UW-River Falls. Rather, this is a speedy, athletic team that can not only get up and down the floor but also wreaks havoc with their defense led by Linzmeier who is an absolute terror on the defensive side. They're not that big either (nobody over 6'0") which actually meshes well with their style of play. They're going to be a force to contend with on the other side of the River and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they make a LOT of noise in the WIAC playoffs come February.
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