UW-Whitewater 71, UW-La Crosse 61

Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 71-61 at UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Kachel Gymnasium.  The Eagles drop to 14-6 overall and 7-4 in the WIAC while the Warhawks improve to 16-5 overall and 8-4 in the conference.

UW-Whitewater raced out to a 7-2 lead before UW-L scored the next six points to take a one point lead.  The Warhawks used a 8-0 run to lead 15-8 with 9:32 left in the first half, but the Eagles went on a 10-2 run to lead 18-17 with 7:03 remaining.  UW-Whitewater took a 31-25 halftime lead.

UW-L used a 7-0 run to take a 37-35 lead early in the second half, but later trailed 43-42 with 13:06 remaining.  UW-Whitewater scored the next six points to lead 49-42.  The Eagles trailed 53-50 with 7:01 left in the game, but the Warhawks went on a 6-0 run to lead 59-50.  UW-L later went on a 8-0 run to cut the lead to 59-58 with 2:23 remaining on a pair of Kassie Robinson free throws. 

The Eagles trailed 62-60 with 2:01 left, but finished the game going one-of-two from the free throw line and missing all three of their field goal attempts.  The team also had one turnover.  The Warhawks went six-of-six at the line in the final :34.

Robinson led UW-L with 21 points while Mallory Cramer finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Katie Ehlen added nine points.  Rachael Salata and Leah Harms each had seven points.

The Eagles shot 46.7% from the field, including 16.7% (one-of-six) from three-point range, and 81.8% (18-of-22) at the line.

Mary Merg and Chantel Burg led UW-Whitewater with 16 points each with Burg adding a game-high nine rebounds.

The Warhawks shot 39.7% from the field, including 55.6% (five-of-nine) from three-point range, and 76.2% (16-of-21) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, February 4 at 12th-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 3 p.m.