La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 58-53 to ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams. UWL, receiving votes on D3hoops.com, drops to 8-1 overall while UW-Whitewater improves to 6-1.
Alana Gilles finished with 12 points Wednesday night.
UWL scored the game's first four points on free throws from
Lauryn Milne and
Gabby Ritchie. The Eagles took a 10-6 lead on
Kyah Steiner's layup with 4:17 left in the first quarter. Kacie Carollo's jumper with 3:01 remaining and Maggie Trautsch's three-pointer with 1:41 left gave UW-Whitewater a 11-10 lead after the opening quarter.
The Warhawks opened the second quarter on a 11-4 run to take a 22-14 lead on a Trautsch three-pointer with 6:35 remaining. The Eagles cut the lead to 22-19 on a
Ali Sprangers' three-point field goal, but Carollo's three-pointer gave the Warhawks a 25-19 advantage.
Kailee Meeker scored UWL's final three points of the half to cut the deficit to 27-24.
Aleah Grundahl's layup with 5:18 left in the third quarter gave UW-Whitewater a 33-28 lead, but a pair of layups from UWL's
Alana Gilles and a Pagie Schumann free throw tied the game at 33-33. The Warhawks took a 39-37 lead after three quarters on a Trautsch layup with :02 remaining.
UW-Whitewater started the fourth quarter scoring the first eight points to make it 47-37. Trailing 49-41, UWL cut it to 49-45 on a Gilles' layup and Milne jumper. The Warhawks took a 55-48 lead with :50 left and the Eagles could get no closer than four points the rest of the game.
UWL shot 28.8% from the field Wednesday, including 7.1% (one-of-14) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 75.0% (18-of-24) at the line. Milne led UWL with 14 points and seven rebounds while Gilles finished with 12 points and Steiner 10.
Kyah Steiner had 10 points in the game.
UW-Whitewater shot 41.5% from the field, including 50.0% (eight-of-16) from three-point range, and 50.0% (six-of-12) at the line. Trautsch led the Warhawks with 20 points while Carollo recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She also had five assists and three steals. Trautsch added nine rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, December 3 at 12th-ranked UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.
