Pointer notes Men's basketball (16-3 overall, 7-3 WIAC): The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP) had its 18-game winning streak against UW-River Falls snapped on Tuesday, Feb. 3, as the Pointers dropped a 70-59 decision. River Falls opened up with an 8-2 lead and never trailed. Jason Kalsow led the Pointers with 15 points, Nick Bennett of Stevens Point had 13 and Kyle Grusczynski added 11. With three victories last week, the Pointers kept pace in the WIAC title chase and had entered this week alone in second place in the conference standings, one game behind UW-Whitewater and a game ahead in the loss column of UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville. UW-SP opened last week with a 67-52 non-conference win at Viterbo. Bennett had 22 points and Kalsow had 21 points as the Pointers held Viterbo without a field goal for the final 11 minutes of the first half in building a 12-point halftime lead. On Wednesday, the Pointers rallied from just their second halftime deficit of the season to beat UW-Stout, 84-70. Bennett tied a career high with 29 points, including 24 in the second half and the Pointers made 10 straight shots during a 16-2 run. Eric Maus added a career-best 14 points and Kalsow had 20 points. UW-SP won its fourth straight game with a 70-61 win over UW-La Crosse on Saturday as Kalsow had 20 points and Bennett added 16 points. The Pointers used a 6-0 run after leading 64-58 with 4:15 left to pull away. Women's basketball (17-2 overall, 8-2 WIAC): The Pointers posted two wins last week and enter the week one game behind UW-Oshkosh in the WIAC standings. UW-SP played at UW-River Falls on Wednesday and can avenge one of its two losses this season on Saturday when it hosts UW-Platteville. Amanda Nechuta of Mosinee had 18 points to lead the Pointers in a 72-66 win over UW-Stout in UW-SP's first sweep of the Blue Devils since 1990. Cassandra Heuer and Andrea Kraemer both reached the 1,000 career point milestone in the second half. Kraemer finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists. On Saturday, the Pointers made their final six shots and held UW-La Crosse to one-for-12 shooting in the final five minutes to pull away for an 84-69 victory. Amy Scott of Rosholt and Tara Schmitt each had 18 points to lead the Pointers. Men's hockey (11-8-2 overall, 4-5-1 NCHA): The Pointers dropped a pair of games over the weekend on the road to ranked teams by identical 5-1 scores on Friday at St. Norbert and on Saturday at Lake Forest. Adam Kostichka of Stevens Point scored the team's lone goal in Friday's loss to second-ranked St. Norbert. Ryan Scott of Plover made a career-high 47 saves in the loss. The Pointers outshot Lake Forest 30-23 on Saturday, but fell behind 5-0 early in the third period. Ryan Kirchhoff scored the Pointers' only goal on a power play. UW-SP is now in fifth place in the NCHA and one game behind Lake Forest for fourth place. The Pointers hit the road twice this weekend with games at UW-Superior and St. Scholastica. Women's hockey (13-4-4 overall, 9-2-1 NCHA): UW-SP won three games last week, routing St. Catherine 14-1 on Wednesday before posting shutouts over Lake Forest by 6-0 and 3-0 scores over the weekend. The Pointers set school records for goals and shots on goal with 72 in the win over St. Catherine. UW-SP had 10 different players score goals with two goals and two assists from Jackie Schmitt, Hilary Bulger and Ashley Howe. Jackie Foley added a pair of goals. UW-SP posted shutouts in all four meetings with Lake Forest this season. Bulger and Kim Lunneborg scored two goals in Saturday's victory. Bulger added a power play goal in Sunday's win and Lunneborg had two assists. Liz Goergen scored in each win over the Foresters. Diane Sawyer had her 10th career shutout on Saturday and Crystal Randall had the shutout on Sunday. The Pointers hold a one-point lead over UW-Superior in the NCHA standings, but have played two more games than the Yellowjackets. Swimming (Men 4-0 in WIAC duals, Women 3-1 in WIAC duals): UW-SP's men's team finished undefeated in WIAC duals for the ninth consecutive year with a 146-97 win over UW-La Crosse on Friday, while the women's team lost to the Eagles, 163-80. Matt Grunwald and Alex Anderson both won two events and swam on a winning relay for the men's squad. Grunwald won the 200 freestyle in 1:45.05 and the 200 butterfly in 1:56.79. He also swam on the 400 freestyle relay that won in 3:10.94. Anderson claimed the 100 freestyle in 47.37 seconds and the 200 breaststroke in 2:11.81. He also was a member of the winning 400 medley relay in 3:30.17. Aaron Marshall won the 50 freestyle in 21.78 seconds while also swimming on the 400 freestyle relay. Tyler Eloranta was on both winning relays and Chad Pettis won both diving events. Jennie Roskopf won the 200 breaststroke in 2:31.22 and was the lone winner for the women's team. The Pointers are off for three weeks until the WIAC championships on Feb. 19-21 in Oshkosh. Track and field: Mark Wierzba of Rosholt had an NCAA Division III automatic qualifying throw in the 35-pound weight throw to lead the Pointer men's team to the title at the Pointer Invitational on Saturday. Wierzba threw 60 feet, 11.25 inches as the Pointers claimed the five-team meet. The men also had provisional qualifying marks from the 4x400-meter relay team in 3:22.86 and freshman high jumper Mitch Ellis at 6 feet, 8 inches. The Pointer women had three champions and placed third among six teams. Leah Herlache won the 800 meters in 2:18.9, Jenna Mitchler won the 3000 meters in 10:18.3 and Julia Slabosheski won the shot put in 41 feet, 11.25 inches. Also for the men, Chad Ellis won the 400 meters in 51.27 seconds, Jake Rhyner won the 800 meters in 1:59.61, Matt Legel captured the 1,500 meters in 4:00.76 and Mark LaLonde took the 3,000 meters in 8:28.45. Wrestling (6-2 overall, 4-0 WIAC): UW-SP lost a non-conference dual at UW-Parkside 36-9 on Wednesday, but bounced back for a 27-12 win over UW-Whitewater on Saturday. The Pointers, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III, rested several of their top competitors on Wednesday and lost to UW-Parkside, which is ranked 17th in Division II. Brady Holtz had the lone Pointer victory. Holtz was one of three Pointers to win by pin on Saturday, putting away his opponent in 47 seconds as UW-SP improved to 4-0 in the WIAC. Mike Hayes and Yan White also had pins. Other winners for the Pointers were David Davila, Matt Lapinski and Josh Ison. UW-Whitewater entered the match ranked 23rd in the country. The Pointers defeated Lawrence, 39-3, in a conference match on Tuesday. Winning on pins were White at 197, Koenig at 174 and Greg Metzler at 157. Recording major decisions were Davila at 125, Holtz at 133 and Jared Esala at 141. Other winners for the Pointers were Hayes at 285, Ison at 165 and Ryan Hanson at 149. UW-SP will take part in the UW-Eau Claire Invitational on Saturday.