La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball picked up its first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) win of the season with a 74-61 victory over UW-Stout Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in the WIAC while the Blue Devils drop to 6-7 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
UWL earned its sixth straight win over UW-Stout with Wednesday's victory and 10th in the last 11 meetings.
Emma Gamoke finished with a team-high 19 points.
The Eagles never trailed in the game, scoring the first seven points. UWL took a 12-2 lead with 3:38 left in the opening quarter on
Kyah Steiner's layup. UW-Stout cut it to 12-6, but
Emma Gamoke's three-pointer and Julie Seidel's layup gave UWL a 17-6 lead. The Blue Devils ended the quarter scoring the final eight points to cut the deficit to 17-14.
UWL opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run to lead 27-14. Steiner had seven points in the run for the Eagles. UWL led, 41-24, at halftime.
UW-Stout cut the deficit to 46-37 with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter on Alison Murdoch's jumper, but
Julia Seidel's three-pointer and a pair of free throws from
Lexie Higgins gave UWL a 51-37 lead with 3:06 left. The Blue Devils scored the last seven points of the period to cut the Eagles' lead to 51-44.
Murdoch's layup with 7:55 remaining cut UWL's lead to 52-48. UW-Stout later trailed, 57-52 with 3:31 left on a Amanda Giesen layup, but Gamoke's three-point play gave UWL a 60-52 advantage with 2:53 remaining. The three-pointer from Gamoke started a 9-0 run for UWL as the Eagles took a 66-52 lead with 1:00 left. UWL went 10-of-12 at the free throw line in the final minute to secure the win.
Paige Schumann went nine-of-12 at the line.
UWL shot 50.0% from the field, including 41.2% (seven-of-17) from three-point range, and 72.4% (21-of-29) at the line. Gamoke led the Eagles with 19 points while Steiner finished with 17 and
Paige Schumann 11. Higgins added nine points. Steiner recorded a double-double, finishing with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Carly Coulthart totaled seven rebounds. Gamoke had four assists.
UW-Stout shot 40.0% from the field Wednesday, including 42.1% (eight-of-19) from three-point range, and 56.3% (nine-of-16) at the line. Murdoch led the Blue Devils with 14 points while Giesen finished with 12 and Raegan Sorensen 11. Anna Mutch had a team-high five rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 8 hosting UW-Stevens Point at 3 p.m. for Alumni Day.
