Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell, 73-65, at UW-Stout Wednesday night in Johnson Fieldhouse in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams. UWL drops to 11-1 overall while UW-Stout improves to 11-1. 

It marks the 12th straight year UWL has lost its conference opener.

UW-Stout raced out to a 12-4 lead with 5:21 left in the first quarter on a Shannan Watkins layup. The Blue Devils led by as many as 10 points in the first quarter before taking a 20-12 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes. UWL started the second quarter scoring the first six points to cut the lead to 20-18 with 8:38 left after Ava Kramer's jumper. UW-Stout led throughout the first half, taking a 32-27 halftime advantage.

UWL forced a 36-36 tie with 6:59 left in the third quarter on Emma Gamoke's layup. UW-Stout scored the next six points to lead, 42-36, and took a 46-45 lead after three quarters. The Eagles took their first lead of the game on Kramer's layup with 9:55 remaining in the fourth quarter at 47-46. Gamoke's layup with 8:46 left gave UWL a three-point lead, but UW-Stout responded with an 8-2 run to lead, 54-51 with 5:25 remaining after Bailey Diersen's three-pointer. 

Delaney Schoenenberger's layup with 4:01 left cut UW-Stout's lead to 56-55, but the Blue Devils went on a 11-4 run to lead 67-59 with :52 remaining. The Eagles could get no closer than six points the rest of the game. UW-Stout went seven-of-nine at the free throw line in the final :52.

UWL, receiving votes on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, shot 37.5% from the field, including 17.6% (three-of-17) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 73.7% (14-of-19) at the free throw line. Gamoke and Kramer led UWL with 13 points each while Dani Craig and Lexie Higgins each finished with 11. Kramer had a team-high eight rebounds while Craig finished with six. Kyah Steiner had a game-high four blocks. 

UW-Stout shot 49.2% from the field, including 30.8% (four-of-13) from three-point range, and 55.0% (11-of-20) at the line. Diersen led the Blue Devils with 21 points while Kyncaide Diedrich finished with 20 points and game-high nine rebounds and six assists. She added three steals and two blocks. Watkins finished with 11 points while Amber Fabeck had 10 points and six rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 5 hosting UW-Platteville at 3 p.m.