La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team defeated the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 55-46 Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall for its fourth consecutive win.  
 
The Eagles, ranked 23^rd this week on D3hoops.com, move to 15-1 on the year and 4-1 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) action. The Pointers fall to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in WIAC play. The win moves the Eagles into a tie for first-place in the WIAC with UW-Oshkosh who lost to UW-Whitewater 49-47 and UW-Eau Claire who defeated UW-Platteville 76-64 on Wednesday night.
 
UWL scored first on two free throws by Delaney Schoenenberger and would never trail in the contest. The Eagles held the Pointers scoreless for the first 4:19 of the game as they built an early 7-0 lead. UWL would take an 11-3 lead before UWSP scored the next six points to trail 11-9 with 1:33 on the clock.  Ava Kramer would score a layup with 0:47 left to finish the scoring of the opening period as the Eagles led 13-9 at the end of the first quarter. 

 

The Eagles would open the second period with a 9-0 run to take a 22-9 lead with 5:00 remaining in the quarter. UWSP would finally get on the board with 3:51 left on a three-pointer by Carly Cerrato. A Kramer layup with 2:00 minutes left gave the Eagles a 24-14 lead before UWSP scored the final four points of the half to trail 24-18 at the break.
 
Scoring the first six points of the third quarter, the Eagles would take a 30-18 lead with 8:28 on the clock. Schoenenberger and Carly Coulthart each hit a three-pointer to give the Eagles the 12-point lead. Coulthart would hit another three-pointer for the Eagles to give them a 35-22 lead before the Pointers scored ten of the final 12 points to trail 37-32 going into the fourth quarter.
 
After UWSP cut their deficit to 38-33, Emma Gamoke hit a three-pointer for the Eagles and the Pointers would not get any closer than six the rest of the way. Gamoke hit her second three-pointer of the game to give the Eagles their largest lead of the second half at 48-35 with 3:31 remaining. UWSP scored nine of the next 11 points to trail 50-44 with 0:25 left. The Eagles would hit five of their final six free throws to seal the win.
 
UWL finished the game shooting 18-of-70 (25.7%) from the floor including six-of-19 (31.6%) from the three-point line and 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the free throw line.  Gamoke led the Eagles with ten points while Coulthart chipped in nine points. Dani Craig added sevens points and eight rebounds while Lexie Higgins grabbed a career high 13 rebounds for the Eagles. The double-digit number of rebounds marks the third time this season Higgins has grabbed ten or more rebounds.
 
The Pointers finished the game shooting 15-of-52 (28.8%) from the floor including three-of-21 (14.3%) from the three-point line and 13-of-23 (56.5%) from the free throw line. Cerrato led the Pointers with 13 points while Bailee Collins added 12 points and a team high nine rebounds.
 
UWL will be back in action when they host 12th-ranked UW-Oshkosh on Saturday, January 19 at 3 p.m.