Pointer notes Men's basketball (20-5 overall, 11-5 WIAC): The University of Wisconsin (UW-SP) finally defeated UW-Superior this season, 83-73, in the opening round of the WIAC tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The title game is Saturday. The tournament winner receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament. UW-SP now advances to it third straight semifinal and will host UW-Oshkosh in their fourth meeting of the season at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Pointers scored the first seven points and, after a 14-2 Superior run, went on a 17-0 run for a 26-14 lead. Jason Kalsow led the Pointers with 18 points, Nick Bennett and Jon Krull had 14 points each and Neal Krajnik added 14. A cold second half shooting effort caused the Pointers to fall short of a fifth straight conference championship in a 61-52 loss to UW-Superior on Saturday. The Pointers shot just 21.9 percent in the second half and missed 16 straight shots during a nearly 10-minute span of the half. The Pointers also lost earlier in the season to UW-Superior. UW-River Falls finished alone in first place. UW-SP was led by Eric Maus and Krull with 12 points apiece in the loss to UW-Superior. The Pointers had won 15 straight regular season home games during February and had shot at least 41 percent in every game, but were held to 31.7 percent for the game on Saturday. On Tuesday, the Pointers completed a sweep of a three-game road trip by beating UW-Oshkosh 63-61. UW-SP led 44-24 at halftime, but the Titans battled back and had a shot to tie the game rim out at the buzzer. Kalsow scored 23 points and Maus had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pointers. Women's basketball (22-3 overall, 13-3 WIAC): The Pointers advanced to the title game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament for first-time ever Wednesday, Feb. 25, defeating UW-Stout, 83-67. UW-SP will host UW-Oshkosh Saturday, with the time of the game still unavailable Wednesday night. The Pointers had lost at home in the semifinals the past three years before finally getting past UW-Stout. Amanda Nechuta of Mosinee had 20 of her 24 points in the second half after UW-SP closed the first half with a 10-0 run. Tara Schmitt became the fourth Pointer player this year to hit 1,000 points. She finished the game with 14 points. Amy Scott of Rosholt and Cassandra Schultz each had 12 points and Nathalie Lechault added 10. UW-SP used a 22-point spurt during the first half to pull away from UW-River Falls on Monday, Feb. 23, and posted a 90-57 victory in the quarterfinal round. UW-SP is now 24-3 overall and ranked sixth in the latest NCAA Division III rankings. The Falcons ended their season with a 13-13 record. UW-River Falls opened up a 10-5 lead 4:28 into the game before UW-SP used its big run to take a 27-10 lead with 9:20 remaining in the first half. The Pointers made eight of 11 shots during the run and did it without the conference's leading scorer, Nechuta, who picked up two fouls in the first 3:32 of the game. Nechuta didn't remain quiet, however, leading all scorers with 23 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes of playing time. Scott also had a big game for the Pointers, totaling 22 points and eight rebounds. Schmitt added 15 points and Andrea Kraemer had 13 points. The Pointers claimed their second conference championship and first since 1987 with two victories last week to become the top seed for the tournament for the first time ever. The Pointers won a thriller last Wednesday at co-champion UW-Oshkosh, 79-77, in overtime as Nechuta scored 36 points, marking the second-highest single-game total in school history. Kraemer hit a layup with nine seconds left in overtime for the game-winning basket. Scott added 16 points. UW-SP scored the first eight points of the game and rolled to an 80-43 win over UW-Superior on Saturday. Nechuta scored the team's first nine points of the second half and finished with 18 points. Cassandra Heuer and Schmitt each had 10 first half points and finished with 12 for the game. Men's hockey (13-11-3 overall, 5-7-2 NCHA): The Pointers defeated UW-Superior in a mini-game on Saturday night to advance to the NCHA semifinals for the eighth consecutive year. As the sixth seed, UW-SP is the lowest seed ever to advance to the semifinals and will play second-seeded UW-River Falls on Friday, March 5. St. Norbert will host the four-team playoff and play Lake Forest in the other semifinal game. Times have not been determined. UW-SP posted a 6-4 win over UW-Superior on Friday, rallying from a 3-0 first period deficit that saw the Yellowjackets hold a 24-6 advantage in shots. James Jernberg scored two third period goals after the game was tied, 4-4. Ryan Scott of Plover made 38 saves for the win. On Saturday, the Pointers lost the regular game, 3-1, as Adam Kostichka of Stevens Point scored the team's only goal with 1.2 seconds left in the second period when the Pointers were trailing, 2-0. UW-SP won the 20-minute mini-game, 3-1, to improve to 10-3 all-time in mini-games. The Pointers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals by Brett Coburn and Nick Molski of Stevens Point. Kostichka added an empty net goal as the Pointers became the second road team ever to win an NCHA quarterfinal series on the road. UW-SP posted the other road win in 2001, winning at UW-Stout. Women's hockey (15-6-4 overall, 11-4-1 NCHA): UW-SP defeated UW-Superior, 3-2, on Friday, but then dropped a 1-0 decision to the Yellowjackets on Saturday to finish second in the NCHA for the second straight year. UW-Superior won the league's regular season title and will host the league playoffs on Saturday and Sunday. The Pointers will take on third-seeded UW-River Falls, while top-seeded UW-Superior meets fourth-seeded UW-Eau Claire on Saturday. The third place and championship games are on Sunday. One at-large team for the NCAA Division III tournament will be selected following the tournament. Friday's game with UW-Superior was tied 1-1 before Tracy Truckey scored a breakaway goal and Jackie Schmitt scored 54 seconds later in the third period. Ashley Howe scored the team's first goal. On Saturday, the Pointers had a chance to clinch the NCHA title with a win or tie, but the Yellowjackets scored with 40 seconds left in the first period and made it stand for a 1-0 victory. Swimming and diving (Men 4-0 in WIAC duals, Women 3-1 in WIAC duals): The UW-SP men's team captured its fifth straight WIAC title, while the women's team came up just short for the third straight year at last weekend's WIAC meet in Oshkosh. The men's team totaled 930 points to finish ahead of UW-La Crosse, which had 898.5 points. UW-La Crosse won the women's meet with 964.5 points, while UW-SP had 923 points. It is the third straight year the Pointers have been within 42 points of the Eagles for the title. UW-SP had five different men's swimmers claim one individual title. Matt Sievers defended his title in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.41 seconds, while Matt Grunwald repeated in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.90 and Alex Anderson won the 200-yard individual medley for the second straight year in 1:56.03. Garth Newport won the 100-yard butterfly in 50.75 and Peter Nowak captured the 400-yard individual medley in 4:21.02. Anderson and Sievers joined Aaron Marshall and Tyler Eloranta on the 200-yard freestyle relay that won in 1:24.43. Jennie Roskopf was the lone individual champion for the Pointer women's team, taking the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.27 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:26.53. UW-SP also won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:38.78 with Alissa Bartz, Jerica Crook, Kelsey Crunstedt and Erica Janssen swimming to the title. The women will compete at the Division III championships in St. Louis on March 11-13 and the men will compete on March 18-20. Qualifiers will be announced in the next two weeks. Track and field: The Pointer women had six individual champions to place second at Saturday's UW-Oshkosh Invitational. The Pointers totaled 200.16 points to finish behind UW-Oshkosh, which had 249 points to win the seven-team meet. The Pointer men's team also finished second behind the Titans, posting 153 points. UW-Oshkosh won the meet with 241 points. Andrew Schliepp won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.68 seconds for the Pointers' lone individual champion. On the women's side, Marie Burrows won the 200-meter dash in 26.31 seconds and Isabelle Delannay captured the 1,500-meter run in 4:45.65. Ashley Earney was victorious in the 5,000-meter run in 19:06.49 and Becky Clarke claimed the 55-meter hurdles in 8.81 seconds. Field event winners were Stephanie Renk in the long jump at 17 feet, 9.75 inches and Amy Frey in the triple jump at 35 feet, 8.5 inches. The Pointers will host their final home indoor meet of the season on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Multi-Activity Center. Wrestling (9-3 overall, 6-0 WIAC): The Pointers had three conference champions and will send four wrestlers to the NCAA Division III championships after their performances at Sunday's WIAC meet in Whitewater. Yan White became a three-time conference champion, while Cody Koenig and Brady Holtz each won their second WIAC titles. The trio were All-Americans last year and will return this year along with sophomore Joel Burdick, who was an at-large selection after finishing runner-up at 141 pounds. White beat Nick Campbell of UW-Eau Claire 3-1 in the 197-pound title match for his third straight title. Koenig defeated Nick Patenaude of UW-La Crosse 11-6 in the finals and will defend his national title at 174 pounds. Holtz topped Nick Morphew of Lawrence 7-2 in the championship match at 133 pounds. He was also the conference champion in 2000. The Pointers finished 20 points behind UW-La Crosse in the team standings as the Eagles tied a WIAC record with their seventh straight title.