La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 60-48 to sixth-ranked UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 16-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference.
Gabby Ritchie had four points and four rebounds.
UWL took a 3-2 lead on
Kyah Steiner's three-pointer with 6:29 remaining. UW-Whitewater took a 7-3 lead on Maggie Trautsch's layup and Kacie Carollo's three-pointer. The Eagles'
Emma Gamoke hit a three-pointer and
Gabby Ritchie made a free throw to force a 7-7 tie. The game was tied, 12-12, when Rebekah Schumacher gave the Warhawks a 15-12 lead on a three-pointer with :35 left. UW-Whitewater led, 17-14, after the first quarter.
Carly Coulthart's three-pointer for UWL with 7:33 left in the second quarter forced a 20-20 tie. Schumacher's three-point basket gave UW-Whitewater a 23-20 advantage, but Gamoke's jumper cut the lead to one with 3:06 left. UW-Whitewater took a 29-22 lead with 1:15 remaining on Abby Belschner's hook shot, but
Lauryn Milne's jumper with 1:00 left cut the halftime lead to 29-24.
UW-Whitewater, ranked sixth on D3hoops.com, opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run to lead 40-26 on Aleah Grundahl's layup with 5:16 remaining. UWL responded with a 5-0 run on Coulthart's three-pointer and Gamoke's layup to cut the lead to 40-31. The Eagles trailed 44-36 with 1:42 remaining on Ritchie's three-point basket. The Warhawks scored the final six points of the third quarter to lead, 50-36.
Julia Seidel totaled six points and two steals.
The Warhawks scored six of the first seven points in the fourth quarter to take a 56-37 lead with 7:25 remaining. The Eagles used a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 56-47 with 2:28 left on
Julia Seidel's layup, but could get no closer the rest of the game.
UWL shot 28.8% from the field, including 40.9% (nine-of-22) from three-point range, and 50.0% (five-of-10) at the line. Coulthart led the Eagles with 11 points, going three-of-four from three-point range. Gamoke totaled 10 points. Steiner finished with a team-high 12 rebounds. Steiner and Seidel each added six points while Ritchie finished with four points and four rebounds.
UW-Whitewater shot 41.1% from the field, including 40.0% (six-of-15) from three-point range, and 42.1% (eight-of-19) at the line. Schumacher led the Warhawks with 13 points while Grundahl finished with 10 and Johanna Taylor nine. Taylor had a team-high seven rebounds, five blocks and three assists.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 22 at UW-Stevens Point at 3 p.m.
