La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team had its three-game winning streak snapped with a 53-48 loss to 11th-ranked UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
UWL took an early 7-3 lead with 6:50 left in the opening quarter on
Emma Gamoke's jumper, but Jessie Ruden's three-pointer and Courtney Crouch's two free throws gave UW-Eau Claire its first lead of the game at 8-7.
Casandra Warmsley hit a pair of free throws with 3:29 left gave the Eagles a 11-10 lead. The Blugolds responded with a 7-0 run, capped by Tyra Boettcher's three-point basket with :57 remaining.
Lauryn Milne's layup cut the deficit to 17-13 with :32 left after the first quarter.
Lauryn Milne had eight points Saturday.
UW-Eau Claire, ranked 11th on D3hoops.com, led by as many as seven points in the second quarter at 31-24 with 3:30 remaining on Ruden's three-point field goal.
Alana Gilles' two free throws with 3:01 left cut it to 31-26. Warmsley made one-of-two at the line with 1:15 remaining to make it 31-27 and
Lexie Higgins' jumper with :43 left cut UW-Eau Claire's lead to 31-29 at halftime.
Gamoke's three-pointer with 7:37 left in the third quarter tied the game at 35-35. After Ruden connected on three free throws to give the Blugolds a 38-35 lead,
Paige Schumann converted a three-point play to force a 38-38 tie. UW-Eau Claire then went on a 10-0 run to take a 48-38 lead with 1:29 remaining in the quarter. The Blugolds led, 50-40, after three quarters.
UWL trailed, 51-42, when it scored six straight points to cut the deficit to 51-48 on Gamoke's jumper with 2:07 left. The game remained 51-48 when Crouch blocked Gamoke's potential tying three-point attempt with :05 remaining. Kylie Mogen hit a pair of free throws with :01 left for the final margin.
Paige Schumann had six points in the game.
The Eagles outscored the Blugolds, 8-3, in the fourth quarter. The teams combined to go three-of-31 from the field in the final 10:00 with UWL finishing three-of-16 while UW-Eau Claire missed all 15 of its attempts.
UWL shot 26.7% from the field, including 21.4% (three-of-14) from three-point range, and 92.9% (13-of-14) at the free throw line. Gamoke led the Eagles with 12 points while Milne finished with eight. Schumann and Higgins each had six. Gamoke and Higgins led UWL with nine rebounds while
Kyah Steiner had eight. Gamoke finished with a team-leading four assists and three steals while Steiner had three blocks.
UW-Eau Claire shot 28.1% from the field, including 29.2% (seven-of-24) from three-point range, and 73.7% (14-of-19) at the line. Ruden led the Blugolds with 14 points while Ellie Clayton finished with 11. Clayton and Jadelyn Ganski tied for the team lead with nine rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 19 hosting eighth-ranked UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.
