Pointer notes Men's basketball (19-4 overall, 10-4 WIAC): With two road victories last week, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP) is back in position to capture its fifth consecutive WIAC championship. UW-SP beat UW-Whitewater, 79-59, on Tuesday and then defeated UW-Eau Claire, 80-68, on Saturday. Coupled with UW-River Falls' win at UW-Whitewater, the Pointers moved into a three-way tie for first place with the Falcons and Warhawks. UW-SP beat UW-Oshkosh Tuesday, 63-61, and hosts UW-Superior on Saturday afternoon. The Pointers were ranked 12th in the latest NCAA Division III poll. UW-SP jumped out to a 20-7 lead at UW-Whitewater and rolled past the Warhawks. Jason Kalsow totaled 22 points and Eric Maus had a career-high with 18 points, including 14 in the second half. It was the Pointers' biggest victory margin in Whitewater since 1982. On Saturday, Nick Bennett scored 20 points and Kalsow added 15 as the Pointers won in Eau Claire for the third straight year. UW-SP had just three turnovers and used a late 7-0 run to pull out to a 13-point lead in the final minutes. Women's basketball (20-3 overall, 11-3 WIAC): UW-SP has an opportunity to capture its first WIAC championship since 1987 with two victories this week as the Pointers enter the week one game behind first-place UW-Oshkosh and defeated the Titans in overtime, 79-77, on Wednesday night. With a victory on Saturday at home against UW-Superior, the Pointers would claim their second conference title in school history. UW-SP posted a 77-57 win at UW-Whitewater on Wednesday before dropping a 64-60 decision at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday. UW-SP got help from UW-Stout's win over UW-Oshkosh Saturday to remain within one game of the Titans. The Pointers were ranked fourth last week's national poll. Amanda Nechuta led the Pointers with 29 points in the victory at UW-Whitewater as UW-SP went on an 11-0 run to open the second half after a three-point halftime lead. Andrea Kraemer added 12 points in the victory. Nechuta also led the Pointers on Saturday in a tightly contested battle at Eau Claire that saw each team hold one five-point lead for the biggest margins at any point of the game. Cassandra Heuer added a season-high 16 points in the loss. Men's hockey (12-10-3 overall, 5-7-2 NCHA): The Pointers skated to a tie and a loss during the final weekend of the regular season and fell to the sixth seed for the upcoming NCHA playoffs. UW-SP opens the postseason with a two-game series plus a possible mini-game at third-seed UW-Superior. Other first round matchups have top-seed St. Norbert hosting eighth-seed St. Scholastica, second-seed UW-River Falls hosting seventh-seed UW-Eau Claire and fourth-seed Lake Forest hosting fifth-seed UW-Stout. UW-SP tied UW-Stout 3-3 and then lost to UW-River Falls 8-1 over the weekend to wrap up the regular season. The Pointers are the only NCHA team ever to win a quarterfinal playoff series on the road, beating UW-Stout two years ago. On Friday, the Pointers trailed 2-0, but evened the game with two goals by Dan Francis. Nick Zebro gave the Pointers a 3-2 lead with 13:37 left, however, UW-Stout tied the game 33 seconds later and the teams settled for the draw. Ryan Scott of Plover made 24 saves in the loss. UW-SP also fell behind 2-0 on Saturday before Mike Brolsma scored a first period goal for the Pointers, however, UW-River Falls added three goals in each of the final two frames to avenge a loss to the Pointers earlier this season. Women's hockey (14-5-4 overall, 10-3-1 NCHA): UW-SP can claim its second NCHA regular season championship in three years with at least a win and a tie in this weekend's home series with UW-Superior. The Pointers will host the Yellowjackets on Friday night and Saturday afternoon after having a weekend off. UW-SP enters the weekend with 21 points in the standings, while UW-Superior has 22 points. UW-River Falls has 23 points, but its season is complete. The regular season champion will host the postseason tournament on Feb. 28-29. UW-SP was swept in two games at UW-Superior earlier this season by 5-2 and 7-4 scores. The Pointers were ranked sixth in the country last week and UW-Superior was ranked ninth. Swimming and diving (Men 4-0 in WIAC duals, Women 3-1 in WIAC duals): The Pointer men's team aims for its fifth consecutive conference championship this weekend in the WIAC championships at Oshkosh. The UW-SP women's team will look for its third title in five seasons after falling short by 27 points last year and seven points in 2001. Action begins on Thursday and runs through Saturday. Preliminaries begin each day at 10 a.m. with finals set each night at 5:30 p.m. Diving will be held on Thursday and Friday at 12:30 p.m. Track and field: UW-SP swept both the men's and women's titles in Saturday's Pointer/Eastbay track and field invitational at the Multi-Activity Center in Stevens Point. The men's team had 149 points to finish ahead of Minnesota-Duluth's 120.5 points in the 13-team meet. The women's team totaled 195 points and Minnesota-Duluth had 133 points. The Pointer men had four individual champions as Matt Legel took the 800-meter run in 1:53.51 and Andrew Schliepp captured the 55-meter hurdles in 7.79 seconds. Both were also members of the winning 4x400 meter relay team in 3:20.70. In field events, Mark Wierzba of Rosholt won the 35-pound weight throw in 54 feet, 9.5 inches and Peter Prusinski claimed the shot put at 47 feet, 11.75 inches. On Friday, at the UW-Whitewater Invite, Curt Johnson automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III championships in the men's 5000 meter run by finishing second in 14:31.64 and Mark LaLonde had a provisionally qualifying time with a fifth place finish and time of 14:34.57. The Pointer women had six individual champions and also won the 4x400 meter relay in 4:07.53 and the distance medley relay in 13:23.43. Marie Burrows won the 400-meter dash in 59.90 seconds, Jenna Mitchler won the 800-meter run in 2:16.23, Megan Craig took the 1500-meter run in 4:45.58 and Ashleigh Potuznik won the 3000-meter run in 10:18.46. Also, Melissa Seefeldt won the 20-pound weight throw in 49 feet, 1.5 inches and Julia Slabosheski won the shot put in 41 feet, 8.75 inches. WRESTLING (9-3 overall, 6-0 WIAC): UW-SP completed its first undefeated conference dual meet season since 1992-93 with a 33-12 victory over UW-Eau Claire on Saturday. The match capped a busy weekend for the fourth-ranked Pointers, who lost to second-ranked Augsburg on Friday, 37-6, before losing to St. John's, 20-18, and beating Concordia-Moorhead, 39-10, on Saturday. Cody Koenig had a perfect weekend and avenged one of his two losses this season by pinning second-ranked Joe Moon of Augsburg in 1:34 for the team's only win of the match. Koenig also had a pin in 20 seconds against St. John's. David Davila, Brady Holtz and Mike Hayes each won all three of their matches on Saturday. Tyler Wozniak and Josh Ison had two victories in three matches on Saturday. The Pointers will compete on Sunday at the WIAC championships in Whitewater. UW-SP is looking for its first conference title since 1997 and attempting to break UW-La Crosse's string of six straight WIAC crowns. Each individual weight class winner and six at-large selections advance to the NCAA Division III championships on March 5-6 in Dubuque, Iowa.