La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 49-47 to UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in WIAC play, while the Blugolds improve to 9-3 overall and 1-0 in the league.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for UWL over UW-Eau Claire. The Eagles swept the season series in 2016-17 for the first time since 1986-87 while also defeating the Blugolds 69-57 in the opening round of the WIAC tournament a season ago.
UWL had just three field goals in the first quarter, all three-pointers.
Dani Craig hit the first shot of the game to make it 3-0 with 9:24 left, while
Delaney Schoenenberger went two-of-two from long range in the period to account for the remaining Eagles' points. UW-Eau Claire led 12-9 after the first quarter.
A 7-0 run to start the second quarter put UW-Eau Claire ahead 19-9 with 5:44 remaining in the half before a
Jayne Emerson jumper on the next possession ended the run. The Blugolds led by as many as 14 points at 25-11 on a Katelyn Morgan layup with 2:24 remaining, and led 26-16 at the half.
Dani Craig had 12 points Wednesday night.
In the third quarter, UW-Eau Claire maintained the lead throughout, and went to the fourth quarter with a 39-30 lead.
UW-Eau Claire led 44-32 with 8:42 left to play when UWL went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 46-45 with 1:54 remaining on a Craig three-point field goal. The teams traded a pair of free throws to make it 48-47 with :37 left. Jenni LaCroix converted one-of-two at the line to put UW-Eau Claire up 49-47 with :05 left.
Sierra Watrud missed a jumper at the buzzer for the Eagles.
UWL shot 34.0% from the field, including 30.4% (seven-of-23) from three-point range, and 66.7% (four-of-six) at the free throw line.
Elise DeNoyer led the Eagles with 15 points (all in the second half) with Craig adding 12.
Kylee Marks had a career-high 15 rebounds, also adding two steals and one block.
Taylor Nelson had two assists for UWL.
UW-Eau Claire shot 36.0% from the field, including 20.0% (three-of-15) from three-point range, and 55.6% (10-of-18) at the line. Kayla Hanley, Kelsey Bakken, and Katie Essen led the Blugolds with eight points each. Essen had a team-high six rebounds while Bakken added three assists and Hanley four steals.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 6 at third-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 3 p.m.
