La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse defeated the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 61-55 Wednesday night in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (Presented by Culver's) in Mitchell Hall.
 
UW-Stevens Point finishes the 2018-19 season 8-18 on the year.
 
With the win, the Eagles improve to 22-4 overall and advance to the WIAC Semifinals to face UW-Whitewater on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at UW-Whitewater. UW-Whitewater is the second-seed while UW-La Crosse is the three-seed in the WIAC Championships.
 
Number four seed UW-Stout will play at number 1 seed UW-Oshkosh in the other semifinal matchup on Friday night. UW-Stout defeated UW-Platteville 81-69 in the first round game on Wednesday night in Menomonie, Wis.
 
The semifinal winners advance to the WIAC Championship game Sunday, February 24 at 2 p.m. at the highest remaining seed. The winner of the WIAC Championship earns an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.
 
This is UWL's 15^th appearance in the WIAC Tournament, which began in 1999, and the fifth time the Eagles have advanced to the semifinals (2006, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2019). UWL is now 5-15 all-time in the conference tournament including 5-2 at home.

 
UWSP jumped out to an early lead as they opened the game on a 12-2 run to force a UWL timeout with 5:22 on the clock in the first period. Bailee Collins scored seven of the 12 points during the run for the Pointers. UWL would slowly chip away at their first quarter deficit as they scored nine of the next 12 points to trail 15-11 at the end of the first period. Kendra Leis sparked the scoring for the Eagles with a three-point play late in the first period.
 
UWSP would score first in the second period on a layup by Taylor Greenheck (9:13) but the Eagles would get a three-pointer and a jumper from Dani Craig to cut their deficit to 17-16 with 7:05 left in the second quarter. After UWSP took a 21-18 lead, Delaney Schoenenberger would hit a three-pointer followed by a two-point field goal to give the Eagles their first lead of the game at 23-21 with 2:37 left in the half. UWL would not trail the rest of the game as they led 25-23 at the half.
 
Leading 25-24, UWL would outscore UWSP 11-4 to take a 36-28 lead with 6:55 on the clock in the third period. Back-to-Back three-pointers from Schoenenberger and Carly Coulhart sparked the run for the Eagles. After UWSP cut their deficit to 38-33 (3:49), UWL scored the final four points to lead 42-33 at the end of the third quarter.
 
UWL would score ten of the first 14 points in the fourth quarter as they built their largest lead of the game at 52-37 with 4:21 left in the game.  The Pointers would not go away quietly as they went on a 16-7 run to pull within 59-53 with :22 remaining but Schoenenberger and Craig would each hit one of two free throws to help seal the win for the Eagles.
 
UWL finished the game shooting 21-of-63 (33.3%) from the floor including five-of-17 (29.4%) from the three-point line and 14-of-18 (77.8%) from the free throw line. Schoenenberger scored 13 of her team high 18 points in the second half while Craig finished with 12 points. Leis (7 points, 3 rebounds) and Kyah Steiner (8 points, 9 rebounds) combined for 15 points and 12 rebounds of the bench for the Eagles.
 
For the game, UWSP shot 18-of-57 (31.6%) from the floor including six-of-22 (27.3%) from the three-point line and 13-of-19 (68.4%) from the free throw line. After scoring ten points in the first quarter for the Pointers, Collins finished with a game high 21 points. Amber Baehman added nine points and a game high ten rebounds to help give the Pointers a 44-42 advantage in rebounds.
 
The semifinal match-up on Friday night between the Eagles and Warhawks marks the third time these two teams have played this season. The Eagles defeated the Warhawks 60-49 at Whitewater on January 12th while the results were flipped in Mitchell Hall as the Warhawks won 55-53 on January 26th.