Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 72-62 to Wartburg College (Iowa) Friday night a match-up of nationally ranked teams in the UW-Eau Claire Classic.  The Eagles, ranked 19th on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Preseason Poll, fall to 2-1 on the season while the Knights, ranked fourth on D3hoops.com, won their season-opener.

Wartburg (Iowa) scored the first seven points of the game on Friday and never trailed in the contest. UWL cut the lead to 16-10 with 3:46 left in the first quarter on Carly Coulthart's three-pointer, but Wartburg (Iowa) finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 23-12. 

The Knights led 27-17 with 8:55 remaining in the second quarter as Bailey Naig three free throws. The Eagles used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 29-28 on an Emma Gamoke three-pointer. Wartburg (Iowa) led, 38-32, at halftime.

Dani Craig's jumper with 4:42 left in the third quarter cut Wartburg's (Iowa) lead to 43-41. The Knights went on an 7-0 run to lead 50-41 with 2:49 remaining on Tori Hazard's layup. Coulthart's three-point field goal with :23 left cut the deficit to 52-51 after three quarters. 

Wartburg (Iowa) opened the fourth quarter scoring the first eight points to lead 60-51. UWL could get no closer than five points the rest of the game at 65-60 with 3:03 remaining on Gamoke's two free throws. The Knights scored the final seven points of the game.

UWL shot 41.0% from the field, including 35.7% (10-of-28) from three-point range, and 66.7% (two-of-three) at the free throw line. Gamoke led UWL with 16 points while Coulthart finished with 13 and Delaney Schoenenberger 10. Steiner had a team-high six rebounds while Kat Fitzgerald finished with five. Gamoke also had a team-high two steals while Jessa Peterson had three assists

Wartburg (Iowa) shot 52.2% from the field, including 50% (10-of-20) from three-point range, and 77.8% (14-of-18) at the line. Ally Conrad led the Knights with 13 points while Amanda Brainerd finished with 12. Emma Gerdes finished with a team-high six rebounds while Kaitlyn Volesky had a game-high seven assists along with five rebounds.

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 16 against Simpson College (Iowa) at 3 p.m. in the UW-Eau Claire Classic.