Athletic News

Saint Bonifacius, Minn - The Lions from Finlandia University traveled 7 hours from Hancock, Mich to take on the Lady Storm in women's basketball at the Wild Athletic Center on the campus of Crown College on Saturday January 31st.  The Storm scored the first basket of the game on a lay up by junior forward Stephanie Zroka (Elk River, Minn/Rivers Christian) but the lions would go on a 10-2 run to take the lead 12-2.  The Lady Storm stayed in the game for much of the first half never trailing by more than 8 points until the final minutes of the half when Finlandia would pull away to take a 14 point half time lead 43-29.  The lions would build their lead to as much as 23 points in the second half eventually winning 76-55 to improve to 6-14 overall.  The Lady Storm drop to 1-13 overall and 0-8 in conference.  Crown was led by sophomore forward Mary DeVries (Chester, MT/Chester) who scored 22 points on 9-12 shooting and grabbed 16 rebounds for a double double.  Freshman point guard Ashley Derosier (Rogers, Minn/Maranatha Christian) had a career high 11 points on 5-10 shooting for the Lady Storm as well.  Finlandia was led by three players in double figures including their two leading scorers junior forward Jodi Riutta (Houghton, Mich/Houghton) with 22 points and 11 rebounds and junior forward Ally Tincknell (Negaunee, Mich/Negaunee) with 10 points. Sophomore guard Deanna Makela (Ishpeming, Mich/Westwood) scored 17 points on 7-8 shooting.  The Lady Storm head back into conference play this weekend when they travel to New Ulm, Minn to take on Martin Luther College on Friday February 6th and than travel to to Mankato, Minn on Saturday to take on Bethany Lutheran.