Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team earned a 66-63 victory over the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' home opener in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 4-2 on the season while the Spartans fall to 3-2. 

In the first meeting between the two teams since the 2009-10 season, UW-L and Dubuque each led by as many as five points in the first half.  The Eagles led 8-3 with 15:22 left in the first half after a Rachel Atchison three-pointer, but the Spartans used a 11-2 run to lead 14-10 wiht 10:00 remaining on a Stephany Remakel layup. 

Dubuque took its biggest lead of the first half at 25-20 with 3:12 left after a Meggie Schmidt three-point field goal.  UW-L then finshed the half on an 8-0 run to lead 28-25 with Jenna Anderson scoring the final four points, including a jumper with :02 left.

The teams combined for 30 first half turnovers.

UW-L took a 37-36 lead with 14:01 remaining in the game on a Mallory Cramer three-pointer, but Dubuque used a 9-0 run to lead 45-37 with 10:36 left. The Spartans led 49-43, but the Eagles went on a 8-2 run to force a 51-51 tie with 6:10 remaining.

Schmidt and Jessica Goetz scored for Dubuque to make it 55-51 before Atchison hit a three-point field goal followed by layups from Cramer and Erin Levenhagen to give UW-L a 58-55 lead with 2:51 left.

The Eagles later led 62-58 with 1:43 left after a pair of Levenhagen free throws, but the Goetz made a three-pointer and Emily Brinker made two free throws to give the Spartans a 63-62 advantage with 1:12 remaining.

UW-L missed three straight shots on its next trip down the court, but Levenhagen grabbed her second straight offensive rebound and was fouled with :47 left.  She made both free throws to give UW-L a 64-63 lead.  Dubuque missed a jumper with :38 remaining, but UW-L turned the ball over.  The Spartans called a timeout with :31 left and took the clock down to :03 when Brittany Collier missed a jumper in the lane.  Levenhagen got the rebound and was fouled.  She hit both free throws with :01 remaining for the final margin.

UW-L shot 33.8% from the field, including 29.4% (five-of-17) from three-point range.  The Eagles shot 88.2% (15-of-17) at the free throw line.  UW-L entered the game shooting 60.9% at the line.  The team finished with 28 turnovers in Saturday's win.

Cramer and Levenhagen recorded double-doubles for the Eagles as Cramer finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds and Levenhagen had 12 points and 13 rebounds.  Levenhagen scored UW-L's final six points, all coming at the free throw line.

Atchison finished with 11 points Saturday.

Dubuque shot 33.9% from the field, including 18.2% (four-of-22) from three-point range.  The Spartans shot 63.0% (17-of-27) at the line.

Brinker finished with 16 points while Goetz had 11 and Jenna Kotas nine.  Collier had seven points and nine rebounds.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, December 4 at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams.