La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team earned its first win of the season improving to 1-2 overall and 1-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 69-49 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. UW-River Falls drops to 0-3 overall and 0-3 in the WIAC.
It is UWL's sixth straight win over UW-River Falls.
The Eagles never trailed Wednesday night, scoring the first five points of the game. UWL led 5-4 with 4:52 left in the first quarter when it used a 16-1 run to lead 21-5 with :42 remaining after
Kat Fitzgerald's three-pointer. UWL led, 23-8, after the first quarter.
Kat Fitzgerald scored 13 points off the bench Wednesday.
UWL led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter at 28-10 with 7:48 remaining in the second quarter on
Shayley Vesel's three-pointer. UW-River Falls went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 28-19 with 4:50 left on Jenna Zeman's layup, but UWL scored 11 of the next 15 points for a 39-23 lead with :56 left. The Eagles led, 39-25, at halftime.
UW-River Falls could get no closer than 13 points in the second half at 43-30 with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter on Taylor Crissinger's layup. UWL led, 53-39, after three quarters. The Eagles led by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter.
UWL shot 43.5% from the field, including 25.0% (five-of-20) from three-point range, and 80.0% (four-of-five) at the line. Four players scored in double figures for the Eagles.
Emma Gamoke finished with 13 points off the bench, going six-of-nine from the field. Fitzgerald also totaled 13 points, finishing six-of-eight from the field while adding two blocks.
Kyah Steiner finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, and four assists on Wednesday, going five-of-nine from the field, including two-of-three from three-point range.
Julia Seidel also ended the night with nine rebounds. UWL outrebounded UW-River Falls, 60-35, while recording 10 blocks.
UW-River Falls shot 27.1% from the field, including 19.4% (six-of-31) from three-point range, and 31.3% (five-of-16) at the line. Zeman led the Falcons with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists while Colie Justice finished with 10 points.
The teams will face each other Friday, February 12 at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
