Box Score Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team earned a 54-53 victory over Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) Friday night at the UW-Platteville Pioneer Classic on Bo Ryan Court.  The Eagles improve to 2-1 on the season while the Raiders drop to 0-1.

MSOE raced out to an 8-4 lead with 14:09 left in the first half after Bre'Ana Strong hit three free throws. UW-L then went on a 9-0 run to take a 13-8 lead with 9:38 remaining.  Maggi Bishop scored five of the Eagles' point in the run.

The game was later tied at 15-15 with 6:15 left when the Eagles used a 10-2 run to lead 25-17 with 2:22 remaining. UW-L led 29-23 at halftime.

The Eagles led 36-29 with 14:11 remaining when the Raiders went on a 10-2 run of their own to lead 39-38 with 10:08 left.  MSOE led 48-43 with 6:34 remaining before Mallory Cramer hit a jumper, Kelsey Robers a layup and Rachel Atchison a pair of free throws to give UW-L a 49-48 advantage with 4:33 left.

MSOE led 51-50 with 1:48 left after Megan Kroll hit a pair of free throws, but Katie Ehlen gave UW-L the lead right back with two free throws with :55 remaining. Margaret Pugh gave the Raiders a 53-52 advantage with :42 left on a layup. 

After a UW-L turnover, MSOE's Corrine Sanford was fouled with :18 remaining, but missed both free throws. Cramer was then fouled with :08 left.  She hit both free throws to give UW-L a 54-53 lead.  MSOE called timeout , but then turned the ball over dribbling down the UW-L lane with :02 left.  Atchison missed both free throws with :01 remaining, but Cramer grabbed the offensive rebound to end the game.

UW-L shot 35.8% from the field and missed all nine of its three-point field goal attempts.  The Eagles shot 53.3% (16-of-30) at the free throw line.

MaKenzie Miller led UW-L with 15 points, finishing seven-of-nine from the field and one-of-two at the line.  She also tied for the team lead with Cramer with five rebounds.  Cramer and Ehlen each had eight points while Bishop and Atchison each scored six.  Ehlen had a game-high six stals while Atchison finished with five.

MSOE shot 34.2% from the field, including 33.3% (two-of-six) from three-point range.  The Raiders shot 59.5% (25-of-42) at the line.

Strong led MSOE with 18 points while Kroll finished with 11 and Holly Denfeld 10.  Kroll and Denfeld each had seven rebounds.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, November 23 versus Marian University (Wis.) at 1 p.m. in the Pioneer Classic.