Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 53-48 to Cornell College (Iowa) Sunday afternoon in the Holiday Inn Express Thanksgiving Classic in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 3-3 on the season while the Rams improve to 2-2.
In the first meeting between the teams since 2001-02, Cornell (Iowa) never trailed in Sunday's contest. The Rams led 13-8 with :51 left in the first quarter before the Eagles'
Rachel Atchison hit a jumper with :32 remaining to cut the lead to 13-10 at the end of the first.
Cornell (Iowa) scored the first 10 points of the second quarter to take a 23-10 advantage after a Sierra Bisso three-point field goal. UWL scored its only points of the second quarter with 2:29 left on a Syndey Kannel jumper to cut the deficit to 23-12. Kellie Kuzmanic finished the half with a three-pointer with 1:36 remaining to give Cornell (Iowa) a 26-12 halftime lead. The Rams outscored the Eagles, 13-2, in the second quarter.
The Rams took their largest lead of the game at 31-14 with 9:02 left in the third quarter on a Diamond Boyd jumper, but the Eagles went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 31-26 with 4:39 remaining.
Elise DeNoyer scored six points in the run for UWL while Cornell (Iowa) missed four straight shots from the field and committed three turnovers. The Rams led 38-31 at the end of the third quarter.
Cornell (Iowa) led 40-31 with 9:15 left after a pair of Boyd free throws, but UWL used a 13-4 run to force a 44-44 tie with 4:04 remaining on a DeNoyer layup. The contest was tied 46-46 with 3:19 left before the Rams scored the next six points with Kuzmanic notching four points. UWL could get no closer than 52-48 with 1:08 left on a pair of free throws by
Jenna Anderson. The Eagles missed their last four shots from the field.
UWL shot 33.3% from the field and missed all 10 of its three-point attempts. The Eagles shot 63.2% (12-of-19) at the free throw line. DeNoyer led UWL with 13 points while
MaKenzie Miller finished with 12 points and team-high 11 rebounds.
Cornell (Iowa) shot 31.9% from the field, including 29.4% (five-of-17) from three-point range, and 50.0% (four-of-eight) at the line. Kuzmanic and Boyd led the Rams with 17 points each while Maggie Hogen totaled 10 points and game-high 13 rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, December 2 hosting the University of Dubuque (Iowa) at 7 p.m.
