By NICK BRILOWSKI
Special to The Gazette
All of the numbers were stacked against the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UW-SP) women's basketball team heading into its NCAA Division III second round match-up against Washington University (Mo.) on Saturday, March 2, in St. Louis.
The Bears' list of accomplishments read like a roll call of college basketball's elite:
o Four-time defending national champions
o A 70-game home winning streak
o A 36-game overall winning streak
o Twenty consecutive wins in the NCAA Tournament
With all of that stacked against them, the Pointers didn't stand a chance to see their season continue, did they?
Answering all of the doubters with an emphatic "Yes", UW-SP shocked the Division III basketball world by knocking off Washington, 66-60, to move on to the Sweet 16.
"I think we all believed we were going to do it," senior Amie Schultz said. "We knew we had to play for 40 minutes."
Following a slow, sloppy start to the contest that saw the Pointers leading 4-2 six minutes in, UW-SP began to make a strong push with eight minutes remaining in the opening half.
Behind all four of the three-pointers they would make in the game, the Pointers used a 13-1 run to stretch a 17-16 lead into a 30-17 advantage before eventually taking a 32-21 lead into halftime.
"I didn't think we got into any offensive flow in the first half," said Washington coach Nancy Fahey, whose team committed 16 turnovers in the first half. "That's a credit to Point. They got up in our shorts and did a great job."
However, the Bears were far from willing to secede anything to the Pointers as they whittled away at UW-SP's lead throughout the second half.
But the Pointers' resiliency allowed them to rebuild the lead even when Washington cut the lead down to three points on seven occasions following halftime.
"We talked about it being a boxing match and taking their best hit and just being able to answer what they throw at us, and we did that," Pointer coach Shirley Egner said.
UW-SP held a 62-58 lead when freshman forward Hallie Hutchens, who posted a game-high 19 points and 16 rebounds, hit a jumper with 1:23 remaining to trim the Pointers' lead to two.
Following an empty possession by the Pointers, the Bears had an opportunity to tie the game. But Washington missed a jumper and the ball was knocked out of bounds in front of the Bears' bench, giving UW-SP possession with 22 seconds remaining.
A pair of Pointer timeouts later, UW-SP was able to get the ball into Tara Schmitt who was fouled with 18 seconds showing on the clock.
Schmitt calmly stepped to the line and hit both attempts from the line, reestablishing the Pointers' four-point lead.
Washington's ensuing three-point attempt was off the mark and rebounded long toward Schmitt who tipped the ball to a streaking Andrea Kraemer who scored on a lay-up with six seconds remaining to seal the Pointers' upset win.
"I felt like if we could compete in the first 10 minutes…," Egner said. "We were so nervous and careless with the ball. Once we settled in, I knew we could play with them. I'm so happy to take the next step and continue to play."
Carry Boehning led UW-SP with 18 points and nine rebounds in the contest, including an eight-for-eight effort from the free throw line. The Pointers hit 18-of-22 from the line as a team.
"Today, Carry Boehning played the game of her life," Egner said. "I'll give her credit because she's struggled a bit, and she put us on her back today and she carried us."
With the victory, the Pointers move on to host the sectional rounds of the tournament this weekend at Berg Gymnasium.
Chapman (Calif.) and Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) will tip-off semifinal play at 5 p.m. on Friday followed by UW-SP taking on Webster (Mo.), 30 minutes following the completion of the first game.
The semifinal winners will then meet for the right to move on to the Final Four in Terre Haute, Ind. on Saturday at 7 p.m.