Student-athletes at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls earned the 2009-10 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Academic Award for their outstanding performance in the classroom.

During the 2009-10 academic year, nearly 50 percent of the student-athletes competing in the conference achieved a 3.0 grade point average or better (on a 4.0 scale) and were named to the Scholastic Honor Roll.

Individuals named to the Scholastic Honor Roll receive a certificate.

“This is another example of how engaged Falcon student-athletes are regarding the academic rigors of college life,” said Athletic Director, Roger Ternes. “They are model students for the young men and women who attend the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to emulate”.

Women’s Head Coach Cindy Holbrook said “It is a great honor for our student athletes. We expect all our players to excel in the classroom and the court.”

The six student athlets from the 2009-2010 season include:

Melissa Carmody   G 5-7 Fr.  Barneveld

Brittany Gregorich   F 5-9 Fr.  Altoona

Tiffany Gregorich   G 5-5 So.  Altoona

Kelli Hilt   G 5-6 Sr.  Lakeville, MN / North HS

Jenna Hanson   G 5-6 Sr.  Altoona

Lindsey Olson   F 6-0 Fr.  Plainview, MN / Plainview-Elgin-Millville HS 

By Cristy Brusoe
UWRF Sports Information

Talent runs in the bloodline of the UW-River Falls women basketball team, literally. Tiffany and Brittany Gregorich are the top two scoring leaders for the Falcons.

Tiffany leads the team, averaging 14.2 points per game and scoring 313 points total this season. Brittany comes in second averaging eight points per game and scoring 184 points this season.

Along with playing side-by-side on the court, these teammates are sisters. Brittany Gregorich, who is the younger at 18-years-old, and Tiffany Gregorich, 20-years-old, grew up in Altoona, Wis. Both started playing basketball in second grade. It wasn’t long from then that Brittany (as a junior) and Tiffany (as a senior) went to the state tournament in high school.

Both agreed that it is the competitiveness of basketball that they enjoy most in playing. “I enjoy being competitive and being on a team. Basketball contains both so it is just all around fun and you can always get better,” Tiffany explained.

Tiffany, a point guard for the team, and Brittany, a guard/forward, believe this year’s team has been through its ups and downs, but has stayed strong through the games.

“I think this year’s team is really talented – we have a lot of different players with different strengths,” Brittany said. “We are doing really well with circumstances that have been thrown at us,” Tiffany added.

Both women acknowledged that there are rewards and challenges to playing on the basketball team together.

“I love playing with my sister. We are really close so bringing that on the court is nice. We are both brutally honest with each other. If she does something dumb and no one says anything to her about it, I make sure I make it known,” Tiffany said.

“I have always enjoyed playing with my sister. In middle school I always played with my grade and played up with my sister’s team as well. We are both super competitive and want to win. We click on the court and we bring out the best in each other. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and can push each other differently because we are sisters,” Brittany said.

The Gregorich sisters are sometimes so similar in looks and style of play, that even though they are two years apart; they can still easily be mistaken for one another on the court. “Referees will get us mixed up on the court,” Brittany explained.

These similarities ring true even in the sister’s future goals for basketball. “My goals are to get as far as possible each season and to give my all,” Tiffany said. “I want to keep improving as a player and also I want our team to win a conference championship and get a NCAA bid,” Brittany added.

Feb. 15, 2010

Forward Brittany Gregorich (Fr., Altoona, Wis.) played well for the Falcons in the team’s game at UW-Stevens Point on Saturday. Gregorich, 5-9, led the Falcons in scoring with 14 points. She was 4-10 from the field and 6-8 from the line. She also had four rebounds, one assist, one blocked shot and one steal in 34 minutes of playing time. This year Gregorich averages eight points and 4.6 rebounds a game. She is third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding. She has 44 assists, eight blocks and 25 steals and has played in all 22 games.

Posted: Monday, February 8, 2010 11:00 pm | Updated: 11:28 pm, Mon Feb 8, 2010.

By Justin Harings Leader-Telegram staff

“We just have a pretty well-balanced team,” UW-River Falls coach Cindy Holbrook said. “I expected a lot out of us this year.”

By anyone’s standards, she’s getting it. Thanks in part to a group of former Altoona standouts, the Falcons (17-4, 9-4) are second in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, trailing preseason favorite UW-Stevens Point by a half-game with two weeks to play.

If the Falcons can hold steady, they will earn their best finish since winning back-to-back WIAC championships in 1987-’88 and 1988-’89. They have placed third three times since winning those titles but not higher.

“We have a lot of athletic girls,” sophomore guard Tiffany Gregorich said. “I think our main thing is defense.”

Gregorich, who was one of the area’s best prep players before graduating from Altoona, has been a centerpiece since stepping onto campus. She led the Falcons in scoring as a freshman and received honorable mention all-WIAC. Her 15.5 points per game this season are third-best in the league and lead a team that returns every player who started a game last year.

She has been partially supported by five freshmen, including her younger sister, Brittany. The 5-foot-9 forward is third on the team in scoring (7.7 ppg) and second in rebounding (4.7 rpg). The Gregoriches’ contributions emphasize the promise of a team that has but five upperclassmen on the roster.

“It’s a fun year,” Tiffany Gregorich said. “Yeah, we’re young, but we can also learn.”

The Falcons, who were picked to finish sixth by the conference’s sports information directors after finishing last year in that position, have stood at or near the top all season. They won their first 13 games and were ranked nationally by both d3hoops.com and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association until losing four of five games during a January hiccup. They still were receiving votes in both polls.

“Our sophomores have been really up and down,” said Holbrook, who took over in 2000 and has the second-most wins in program history. “They’ve been unpredictable. There’s no question about it. But we have a good basketball team.”

The victories are coming again now. The Falcons have won three consecutive games, including a rare victory at UW-Eau Claire’s Zorn Arena on Wednesday and a 64-48 statement victory over UW-Whitewater last weekend. They travel to leader UW-Stevens Point for a critical game at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Falcons beat the Pointers at home in December.

“During January, we just kind of dropped our defense a lot,” Tiffany Gregorich said. “We practice on it all the time now. Hopefully, that keeps going.”

Instead of fighting just to gain entrance to the six-team WIAC tournament at the end of this month, the Falcons are contending for one of two first-round byes. They have never played in the championship game of the conference tournament, dating back to 1999.

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the Falcons’ progress is their reluctancy to focus on anything but the present. The longer the Falcons keep playing this season, the better the chance that senior guard Jenna Hanson can return from an injury and finish her collegiate career on the court.

“If we keep going, then she can come back and play for us still,” said Tiffany Gregorich, a friend of Hanson’s dating back to their time at Altoona. “It’d be nice to do it for our seniors because they’ve been here for four years.”

Soon enough, even the youngest Falcons will be on the other end of that sentiment. But not too soon.

“We’ve got a bright future,” Holbrook said. “There’s no question about it. We’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

Here is a link to the article.

Brit Gregorich

Jan. 11, 2010

Forward Brittany Gregorich (Fr., Altoona, Wis.) played well for the Falcons in two WIAC games last week. Gregorich, 5-9, came off the bench in both games to help the Falcon effort. In a 68-65 overtime win over Stout, she scored eight points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. She also had two steals in 28 minutes of playing time. In the team’s first loss of the season at Whitewater, she led the Falcons with seven rebounds and two steals. She also scored six points. Gregorich has played in every game and averages 7.3 points and four rebounds a game. She has 29 assists, four blocks and 17 steals for the 13-1 Falcons

Brittany Gregorich

View  Altoona sister act keeps Falcons unbeaten highlights from WEAu TV 13

Read Eau Claire Leader Telegram here.

Ranked No. 15 in the nation, UW-Stevens Point visited the Karges Center to take on the 5-0 Falcons. The Gregorich sisters teamed up for 33 points in the Falcons 72-61 victory over the Pointers.

Tiffany Gregorich finished the night with 19 points, and Brittany Gregorich chipped in 14 points of her own. Tiffany scored 13 points in the second half, and Brittany had nine second-half points of her own. In addition, Tiffany shot 7-13 from the field, 1-3 from the three-point line and 4-4 from the free throw line. She also had a team-high three steals. Brittany shot an impresive 6-8 from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc. Lauren Pellowski and Kelli Hilt finished with 10 and nine points respectively.

With the win over the nationally ranked Pointers, the Falcons advance to 6-0 overall, leading the conference at 2-0. The team’s next match-up will be against UW-Eau Claire at the Karges Center on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.

Brittany Gregorich

 

 

 

33 Questions with Brittany Gregorich of the UW-River Falls Falcons Women’s Basketball team

1­Parent(s) name(s): Chuck and Lori Gregorich 

2­Home town and School:  Eau Claire, Wi – Altoona High School

3­Major/Minor:  Exercise Science

4­My Friends Call Me: Brittany, Brit  

5­Favorite College Class: Haven’t been here long enough yet to decide that… but my favorite subject is Anat & Phys

6­Favorite Quote: Laughter is timeless-Imagination has no age-And dreams are forever-Tinkerbell

7­What is your favorite spot on campus?: My dorm or Nikki, Morgan, and & Mel’s hotel room!

8­What makes you laugh? My friends and jokes

9­Advice I’d give a young athlete:  Hard work and commitment will eventually pay off

10­In my free time I like to:  Hang out with friends, eat, sleep, rollerblade, shop

11­Pre­game Superstition:   None

12­One word that best describes me: Sarcastic

13­Nobody knows how much I love to:  Eat. All the time.

14­If I weren’t playing basketball I would be: still going to school

15­The best thing about attending UWRF is:  Besides basketball and the team, the food

16­My dream job would be: Trainer at Sea World

17­If you could be on the cover of a magazine, it would be? Why? Comsopolitan, there is some crazy stuff in that magazine 

18­My greatest sports moment was: Going to state basketball my junior year

19­What would you like to learn and achieve this sports season?  Become a more consistent shooter and our team to be successful and make conference playoffs.

20­Describe an ideal teammate:  Someone who has drive, energy, commitment, and likes to have fun!

21­What is one word that describes you right now? Crazy 

 22­What is one word you hope to use to describe yourself in ten years?  Working

23­What’s one television show that you can’t miss each week?  One Tree Hill

24­If you had a theme song, what would it be?  Sweet Child O’ Mine

25­ What is your biggest pet peeve?  Stupid people

26­ If you were a traffic sign what would you be? Cattle crossing 

27­ If you could trade places with anyone, who would it be? TAYLOR SWIFT

28­ If you could do anything just once, what would it be?  Swim with dolphins

29­If we made a movie of your life what would it be called and who would star in it?  My sister (she looks like me) and it’d be called The Notorious BLG.

30­If you were to choose an animal you most resemble, what would it be?  Sloth

 31-Why did you decide to come to UWRF? I really liked the coaches and the campus.  The girls on the team were cool and easy to talk to.  The food at the UC isn’t too bad either!

32-What’s the best thing about UWRF in your experience so far? Lots of fun people! 

33-How do you feel about your UWRF basketball teammates?  Coaches?  They’re all very welcoming and fun to be around!

Brit coming in for two

Brittany hustle and get on her

View the Freshmen here.

Freshmen waiting to get in