La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team improved to 6-0 on the season with a 75-52 win over Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) Monday night in Mitchell Hall. The Cougars drop to 2-3 on the season. It was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
It marks UWL's first 6-0 start since winning its first 11 games in 2018-19.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) took a 3-2 lead on Alexis Desjarlait's three-pointer, but UWL took a 6-3 lead on layups from
Carly Coulthart and
Gabby Ritchie. The Eagles led, 14-12, before
Kailee Meeker's three-point play with :08 left gave UWL a 17-12 lead after the first quarter.
Alana Gilles had a team-high 15 points.
The Eagles took a 20-12 on
Alivia Arnebeck's three-point play to start the second quarter. Concordia Chicago (Ill.) later cut the deficit to 22-19 with 7:09 left on Jaylene Wade's jumper, but UWL responded with a 8-1 run to take a 31-20 lead with 4:16 remaining after an
Alana Gilles' layup. UWL led, 35-25, at halftime.
Jada Dixon connected on a three-pointer for Concordia Chicago (Ill.) to cut the lead to 37-31, but a pair of free throws from
Kyah Steiner and three-point field goal from Meeker gave UWL a 42-31 lead with 4:59 left in the third quarter. After the Cougars cut it to 42-33, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run to lead 51-33 on Arnebeck's three-pointer with :49 remaining. Wade's three-pointer with :03 left cut the lead to 51-36 after three quarters.
Carly Coulthart had nine points and five rebounds.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) could get no closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.
UWL shot 40.0% from the field, including 33.3% (five-of-15) from three-point range, and 71.4% (10-of-14) at the free throw line. Gilles led the Eagles with 15 points, finishing six-of-nine from the field and three-of-four at the line off the bench. She added six rebounds and two assists. Steiner recorded a double with 12 points and game-high 12 rebounds while also recording three assists, three blocks and two steals. Coulthart finished with nine points while Arnebeck and Meeker each had eight. Twelve different players scored for UWL.
The Eagles out-rebounded the Cougars, 61-34. UWL finished with 19 offensive rebounds in the game.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) shot 27.4% from the field, including 25.9% (seven-of-27) from three-point range, and 61.1% (11-of-18) at the line. Wade and Katherine Benes led the Cougars with 13 points. Wade also had a team-high eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Friday, November 25 hosting UW-Superior at 3 p.m in the Gundersen Hotel & Suites Thanksgiving Classic.
