La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team extended its perfect start to the 2018-19 season with a 55-49 win over Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) Thursday night in Mitchell Hall.
 
The Eagles are now 7-0 as it is their best start to a season since 2005-06. The Golden Gusties fall to 3-3 overall. The win marks the first time UWL has ever beaten Gustavus (Minn.) as the Golden Gusties lead the all-time series, 3-1.
 
After Gustavus (Minn.) took an early 9-8 lead with 5:18 remaining in the opening period, UWL scored the next five points to regain the lead at 13-9. That would be the last lead of the contest by the Golden Gusties. Gustavus would tie the contest up at 13 with 1:39 on the clock but a three-pointer by Carly Coulhart with 00:48 remaining gave the Eagles the lead for good.
 
UWL would open the second period on an 11-4 run to take its largest lead of the contest at 27-17 with 3:59 remaining. Emma Gamoke scored all 11 points for the Eagles during the run. The Golden Gusties would score the last seven points of the period as they trailed 27-24 at the half.
 
In the third period, Gustavus (Minn.) would cut their deficit to one on multiple occasions including 31-30 with 07:36 remaining. The Eagles then outscored the Golden Gusties 10-4 to lead 41-34 at the end of the third period.
 
After UWL took a 48-40 lead in the fourth quarter (05:45), Gustavus (Minn.) scored seven of the next nine points to cut their deficit to 50-47 with 3:16 remaining. A three-pointer by UWL's Dani Craig with 1:57 left in the game gave the Eagles a 53-47 lead and the Golden Gusties would not get closer than four the rest of the way.
 
UWL finished the game 23-56 from the floor (41.1%) including 5-17 (29.4%) from the three-point line and finished a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. The Eagles had three players in double figures as Gamoke finished with 13 points while Delaney Schoenenberger and Craig each chipped in 11 points. Lexie Higgins led the Eagles with 7 rebounds and a game high five blocks.
 
Gustavus (Minn.) finished 20-64 (31.3%) from the floor including 1-20 (5.0%) from three-point range and 8-12 (66.7%) from the free throw line. Kendall Thompson led the Golden Gusties with 13 points while Justine Lee finished with 11 points. Ava Gonsorowski and Paige Richert each finished with seven rebounds to help give Gustavus (Minn.) a 42-38 advantage on the boards.
 
UWL will be back in action on Saturday, December 8 when they travel to Dubuque, Iowa to play the Spartans of the University of Dubuque (Iowa). Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.