Pointers move into tie for first The Pointers moved into a four-way tie in the WIAC Wednesday night, building a 12-point halftime lead and then hanging on to defeat UW-River Falls, 75-72. The Pointers led 46-34 at the half and 70-58 with 6:03 left when River Falls went on an 11-0 run until 13 seconds were left. UW-SP set a school record with 15 three-pointers on 26 attempts, breaking the mark set twice in 1990. Brent Larson (Ladysmith) led the way with four of eight attempts, Josh Iserloth (Plymouth) and Jay Bennett (Rhinelander) had three each, Kalonji Kadima (Milwaukee) and Neal Krajnik (Manitowoc) had two each and Ron Nolting (Preston, Iowa) added one. Larson and Rich Steif (Wausau) paced the scoring with 14 points each, Iserloth had 11 and Kadima 10. UW-SP is now tied for first place with UW-River Falls, UW-Whitewater and UW-Eau Claire heading into Saturday's game at 3 p.m. with UW-Superior. The Pointers are 17-6 overall and 9-6 in the WIAC. The Pointers defeated UW-Oshkosh 66-53 Saturday as Josh Iserloth scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half on four-for-four three-point shooting. Joe Zuiker (Port Edwards) added 11 points against UW-Oshkosh. The Pointers were ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III in last week's rankings. Women's Basketball The Pointers followed a major victory on Saturday with a win Wednesday against UW-River Falls, 90-59. The Pointers are now 18-5 overall and 10-6 in the WIAC. UW-River Falls entered the contest tied for second place with UW-Eau Claire and one game ahead of the Pointers at 10-4. UW-Stevens Point will gain at least the third seed in the WIAC tournament with a pair of victories this week. They host UW-Superior at 5 p.m. Saturday. UW-SP led 19-15 with 10 minutes left in the first half and went on 21-4 run over next eight minutes, including 11 straight points to finish run. The Pointers led 42-24 at the half. The 90 points were the most scored by UW-SP in a WIAC game since a 91-59 win over UW-Superior on Feb 12, 1994. Kari Groshek (Rosholt) led the Pointers in scoring with 16, Carry Boehning and Amie Schultz each added 15 and Nikki Seaman had a career high 12 points, including three straight three-pointers. UW-SP picked up a major victory on Saturday with a 70-68 overtime win at No. 6 ranked UW-Oshkosh, snapping a 17-game losing streak against the Titans. The win was the Pointers' fifth straight WIAC road victory. The Pointers were ranked 25th in last week's NCAA Division III rankings. Freshman Tara Schmitt (Waukesha) made the game-winning layup with 0.3 seconds left for the victory over UW-Oshkosh. Freshman Cassandra Heuer (Two Rivers) led the team in scoring with 15 points. Freshman Andrea Kraemer (Waukesha) assisted on Schmitt's game-winning basket. Men's Hockey The Pointer hockey team heads to UW-Stout this weekend for the first round of the NCHA playoffs. It is just the fourth time since joining the league in 1986-87 that the Pointers haven't earned a home playoff series, though they won the title in 1990-91 playing on the road. This past weekend, UW-SP fell behind UW-River Falls 3-0 in the first period, but then rallied to close to within 5-3 after one period before the Falcons prevailed 7-3. The Pointers also lost to Stout 6-4 on Saturday. David Boehm became the fourth Pointer to reach the 100 career point mark this season with an assist in Friday's game. The Pointers are 15-10 overall and 7-7 in the NCHA. Women's Hockey The first-ever NCHA regular season championship is on the line this weekend at Willett Arena when the second place Pointers host first place UW-Superior. The Pointers are at 9-2-1 in the standings and have four games remaining, while UW-Superior is 12-2 and can clinch the title with one win this weekend. UW-Stevens Point needs a sweep this weekend and a split with UW-River Falls next weekend to earn the title and the top seed in the NCHA playoffs. UW-SP is 12-8-1 overall and 9-2-1 in the NCHA. Swimming And Diving For the first time ever, UW-SP enters the WIAC swimming and diving championships as the defending champion on both the men's and women's sides. The Pointers will look to defend both of their titles this weekend in the three-day event at UW-Oshkosh. The Pointers men's and women's teams both finished 5-0 in WIAC duals and won the WIAC relays in November. Overall, the teams were 6-1 in duals. Indoor Track And Field The Pointer men's and women's teams both finished second of six teams behind UW-Oshkosh at last weekend's UW-Oshkosh Invitational. UW-SP will host its third indoor meet of the season this Saturday at the Multi-Activity Center. Winners for the Pointer women's team included Leah Juno in the mile run, Becky Lebak in the 3,000 meters, Jody Butkowski in the triple jump and the 800-meter relay team. On the men's side, Jesse Drake won the mile, Mike Mead captured the high jump, Joel Schult won the shot put, Cory Lesperance won the long jump and Aaron Carley won the triple jump. The 800 relay also won. Wrestling The Pointers host the 46th annual WIAC championships Sunday at the Quandt Fieldhouse. The winners from all 10 weight classes, along with three at-large wrestlers, will earn berths to the NCAA Division III championships March 2-3 in Waterloo, Iowa. UW-SP went 2-1 in dual matches over the weekend, losing to No. 1 ranked Augsburg 33-6 on Friday and beating UW-River Falls 45-6 and UW-Eau Claire 24-13 on Saturday. Brady Holtz (Oconto Falls) won all three of his matches, allowing just two points in his three victories. Yan White (Antigo) improved to 24-6 with three victories for the weekend as well. The Pointers placed second at last season's WIAC championships and have three defending individual champions returning in Holtz, Chet Zdanczewicz and Wes Kapping.