Sam Thiel/Winonan

Becca Friestleben was lights out from beyond the 3-point arc, dialing in seven shots from deep while scoring a career-high 31 points as the Winona State University women’s basketball team blew out the University of Wisconsin-Stout 100-47 Tuesday in Winona.

Friestleben recorded 21 of her 31 points in the second half while grabbing eight rebounds on the night. The senior shot 12-of-20 from the floor, knocking down seven of her ten attempts from 3-point range. Her seven 3-pointers were only one away from the Winona State single-record, which was set by Anna Wurtz against Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2010.

The Warriors hit 15 3-pointers as a squad, only one behind the school record that was set against Bemidji State in 2009.

Katie Wolff contributed four 3-pointers of her own as she scored 18 points and dished out a team-high eight assists. The Warriors recorded assists on 22 of their 32 field goals and shot 47 percent in the game.

Kelsey Andrist added 17 points while Michelle Tobin contributed 12 and Tessa Wells came off the bench to score 10. Kate Hartman also snagged nine rebounds in the victory for WSU.

Defensively, the Warriors were phenomenal, holding the Blue Devils to only 26 percent shooting. UW-Stout shot 16-of-61 throughout the game and hit only five of 21 shots from 3-point range.

The Warriors pick-pocketed the Blue Devils 15 times, causing 22 turnovers and also blocked five shots. Wolff and Andrist each had four steals.

The Warriors used a 20-2 run in the first half to take a 49-23 lead at the half. The team also used a 22-7 run in the second half to blow the gate wide open.

WSU head coach Scott Ballard notched his 400th career victory as the Winona State University women’s basketball team cruised by Grand View University 87-54 Saturday in Winona.

The Warriors shot 15-of-24 from 3-point range, with Kelsey Andrist and Becca Friestleben knocking down five shots each from beyond the arc. Friestleben was perfect from three, going 5 for 5 while scoring 19 points. Andrist and Wolff each added 20 as the Warriors opened up the game with an early lead and didn’t look back.

Up by three early in the game, Winona State reeled off a 17-5 run to take a 15 point advantage with 11 minutes to play in the first half. After a pair of free throws from Kate Hartman with under a minute to play in the first half to give Winona State a 20 point lead, 40-20, the Warriors lead never dipped under 20 points the rest of the game.

“Defensively we were able to stop their inside game and forcing them to shoot from the outside,” junior Kelsey Andrist said. “We boxed out and limited them to only one shot. We pressed them at times to disrupt their offense.”

Wolff dished out eight assists to go along with her 20 points, shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Andrist was 7-of-11 from the field, including a career-high five of six from 3-point range. Michelle Tobin led the way with ten rebounds while Hartman scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench.

WSU has now mad 15 shots from 3-point range in each of its last two games. Friestleben is 12-of-15 from deep in the past two games and now has 16 3-pointers in three games this year.

“We thought we could get good looks from the perimeter if we were able to get the ball inside with dribble drives or post-ups and then kick out for 3-point opportunities,” said coach Scott Ballard. “We also were to create some transition opportunities off of some turnovers and defensive stops. It was important to out-rebound them because they are a long and athletic team and play very physical at times and we were able to do that.”

Ballard is now 400-235 in 23 seasons of coaching at the NCAA Division II level. Ballard has posted a 131-102 record in nine years at Winona State University.

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