River Falls, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 72-54 at UW-River Falls Wednesday night in the Karges Center. The Eagles drop to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), while the Falcons improve to 13-3 and 4-1 in the league.
The loss snapped a three-game conference winning streak for the Eagles.
UWL led on two occasions in the first quarter, both times courtesy of
Elise DeNoyer. Her layup a minute into the game put the Eagles ahead 4-3 early, and a three-point-play with 7:49 left from DeNoyer made it 7-6. It would be UWL's last lead of the game. Later in the period, a
Dani Craig three-pointer pulled UWL to within two at 22-20 with 1:13 to go, but a three-point-play from the Falcons' Crystal Pearson gave UW-River Falls a 25-20 lead after one.
In the second quarter, UW-River Falls still led by five at 35-30 after UWL's
Ava Kramer hit a jumper with 4:18 left in the half. The Falcons ended the period on an 11-2 run to lead, 46-32, at the half.
UW-River Falls, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, maintained control throughout the second half. The Eagles trailed by as many as 24 points in the third quarter, and were able to get as close as 18 points in the period after a Kramer three-pointer made it 65-47 with :45 left. UW-River Falls led 68-47 after three quarters.
The Falcons had their biggest lead at 72-47 with 5:02 remaining in the fourth quarter.
UWL shot 34.5% from the field Wednesday, including 38.1% (eight-of-21) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the free throw line. Kramer led UWL in points with 18 and five rebounds. DeNoyer added 14 points, four assists, and four rebounds for the Eagles.
UW-River Falls shot 50.9% from the field, including 42.9% (nine-of-21) from three-point range, and 71.4% (fine-of-seven) at the line. Jaycie Gerding led all three Falcons in double figures with 19 points. Taylor Karge added 18 points and Pearson had 10. Brynn Liljander had four steals for UW-River Falls.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 20 at 14th-ranked UW-Whitewater at 3 p.m.
