Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team earned a 62-50 victory over Carthage College (Wis.) Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 4-4 on the season while the Lady Reds, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, drops to 4-4 on the year.  UWL now leads the all-time series, 2-1, with Carthage (Wis.). 

UWL never trailed in Saturday's game, racing out to a 9-2 lead with 6:35 left in the first quarter after a pair of Elise DeNoyer free throws.  After the Lady Reds cut the lead to 9-4 with 6:11 remaining on a Monica Masini jumper, the Eagles went on an 8-1 run to lead 17-5.  UWL led 17-10 at the end of the first quarter. 

Carthage (Wis.) scored the first seven points of the second quarter to force a 17-17 tie as Bailey Gilbert hit a pair of three-point field goals to start the quarter.  UWL used a 6-0 run to lead 23-17 with 6:31 left in the second quarter as DeNoyer scored four points.  The Lady Reds responded with a 6-0 run of their own to force a 23-23 tie with 2:21 left, but the Eagles came right back to score the final six points and led 29-23 at halftime. 

UWL opened the second half with a 7-0 run to lead 36-23 with Rachel Atchison scoring five points.  Carthage (Wis.) could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the game as it cut the deficit to 45-35 after three quarters. 

The Eagles led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter at 56-37 with 5:44 left on a MaKenzie Miller jumper. 

UWL shot 46.3% from the field, including 27.3% (three-of-11) from three-point range, and 75.0% (nine-of-12) at the free throw line.  Miller led the Eagles with 17 points and 11 rebounds in recording her fourth double-double of the season.  She finished six-of-nine from the field and five-of-six at the line Saturday.  Atchison finished with 12 points and team-high three steals while DeNoyer totaled 10 points, six rebounds and game-high five assists.  Sydney Kannel scored nine points off the bench while finshing with four rebounds and two steals.

"I thought we did a great job with our defensive intensity today," said UWL head coach Lois Heeren.  "Our defensive aggressiveness was our priority and we needed to find our identity.  I thought we established that identity with our defensive pressure which translated to the offensive end.  We started the game and the second half really strong." 

Carthage's (Wis.) 50 points is an opponent season-low for UWL, who also forced 19 Lady Reds' turnovers.

Carthage (Wis.) shot 32.7% from the field, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range, and 61.5% (eight-of-13) at the line.  Gilbert led the Lady Reds with 17 points, finishing five-of-seven from three-point range and two-of-two at the line.  Masini totaled 13 points and seven rebounds.  

UWL returns to action Tuesday, December 15 at Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) at 7 p.m.