Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team opened its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 64-48 loss at UW-Platteville Wednesday night in Williams Fieldhouse. The Eagles drop to 6-3 overall and 0-1 in the WIAC while the Pioneers improve to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
UWL took a 4-2 lead on
Paige Schumann's layup, but UW-Platteville went on an 8-0 run to lead 10-4 with 4:49 left in the first quarter. The Pioneers led by as many as nine in the first quarter, including 20-11 after the first 10 minutes.
The Eagles scored the first six points of the second period and started the quarter on a 10-2 run to cut it to 22-21 with 4:32 remaining on
Emma Gamoke's jumper. UW-Platteville took a 30-25 lead at halftime.
UW-Platteville, playing its first home game of the season, opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a 39-25 advantage with 4:38 left on Olivia Liddicoat's three-pointer. The Pioneers took their largest lead in the third quarter at 42-27 with 3:03 remaining on a Sarah Mueller free throw. UWL cut the lead to 42-33 with 1:02 left on a
Gabby Ritchie's jumper. After Allison Heckert's layup gave UW-Platteville a 44-33 advantage with :25 remaining, UWL's
Alivia Arnebeck's free throw with :04 left cut it to 44-34 after three quarters.
UWL cut it to 48-41 with 7:14 remaining on a
Lexie Higgins' jumper, but UW-Platteville went on a 16-2 run to lead 64-43 on a pair of Maiah Domask free throws with 2:05 left.
UWL shot 36.7% from the field Wednesday, including 15.4% (two-of-13) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 33.3% (two-of-six) at the line. Schumann led UWL with 11 points while
Kat Fitzgerald finished with seven.
Gabby Ritchie totaled six points with Arnebeck and Higgins each finishing with five. Higgins had a team-high six rebounds.
UW-Platteville shot 40.7% from the field, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range, and 62.5% (10-of-16) at the line. Domask led the Pioneers with 18 points and 12 rebounds with Taylor Gilbert finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds. Brynlee Nelson had nine points with Aspyn Stewart and Sarah Mueller each finishing with eight.
UWL returns to action Saturday, December 4 at 20th-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 3 p.m.
