St. Croix Falls’ Ellie Brice (center) had a career night for the UW-River Falls women’s hockey team in their final game of the regular season last week. – Courtesy photo
RIVER FALLS – Ellie Brice (St. Croix Falls) notched a career highlight while helping the University of Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team to a win in its final game of the regular season.
Brice scored a career-high four assists in the Falcons’ 9-0 win over UW-Eau Claire in the final preparation for the WIAC O’Brien Cup this weekend. She assisted on the first goal of the game and UW-River Falls eventually took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
She then assisted on the team’s first goal of the second period, giving the Falcons a 3-0 lead. They were up 6-0 when Brice assisted on another goal, which made it a 7-0 score. Her final assist came on a power-play goal in the third period.
Brice also won 12 of the 18 faceoffs she was in.
The Falcons ended the regular season with a 20-3-2 overall record and go into the postseason on a five-game wins streak. The O’Brien Cup begins this weekend.
Men’s basketball
Ian McFaggen (Webster) and Northland couldn’t nab the season’s first win in the final two games of the regular season.
They went to Northwestern (Minn.) on Feb. 19 and took an 86-65 loss. The Jacks were outscored 49-23 in the first half; McFaggen had three points.
Saturday was the regular season finale and the Jacks hosted Martin Luther but took a 65-55 loss. McFaggen had a rebound and an assist.
The Jacks fell to 0-25 on the season.
Women’s basketball
• Raegan Sorensen (Unity) and UW-Stout missed a chance to end the regular season atop the WIAC standings but still enter the postseason fresh off a win over the team that did claim the top spot.
The Blue Devils lost their shot at the conference lead with an 85-71 upset loss to UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 19. They needed a win there in order to make Saturday’s game against UW-Oshkosh worth at least a share of the lead.
Sorensen still had a season-best 33 points with six steals and four rebounds in the loss.
She led the Blue Devils again on Saturday, in a 72-63 win over the Titans. She had a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds and a steal.
UW-Stout enters this week’s WIAC tournament as the No. 2 seed and will host a game on Thursday. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday.
• Bri McCurdy (St. Croix Falls) and UW-Whitewater ended the regular season with a four-game win streak after defeating UW-Platteville and UW-Eau Claire last week.
The Warhawks limited the Pioneers to a 13-for-31 performance from 2-point range in a 68-52 win on the road. McCurdy had two points, a rebound and an assist in the win.
McCurdy had four points and three steals in a 65-56 win at home over UW-Eau Claire.
• Emily McCurdy (St. Croix Falls) and Viterbo open postseason play tonight at Governors State after splitting two decisions last week to end the regular season.
McCurdy had a team-high 13 points with four rebounds and a steal in the V-Hawks’ 94-52 win over Judson on Feb. 19. They limited the Eagles to eight points in the first quarter and nine points in the fourth.
McCurdy again led the team in scoring on Saturday but the game ended as an 80-60 loss at Indiana Northwest. She scored 13 points with two steals, a rebound and an assist.
• Olivia Miron (St. Croix Falls) and UW-River Falls ended the regular season with a win on Saturday after taking a loss to UW-La Crosse on Feb. 19.
Miron had two points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist in the 62-56 loss to UW-La Crosse.
But the Falcons ended the regular season with a 63-58 home win over the Pioneers on Saturday. Miron had three points, four rebounds and two assists.
• Lilly Johnson (Siren) and Gogebic ended the regular season with an 87-63 win over Minnesota North-Vermilion on Feb. 19.
Johnson had 11 points, six rebounds and a block in the win, which evened the Samsons’ season mark at 11-11.
