Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 71-58 at 20th-ranked UW-Eau Claire Saturday night in Zorn Arena. The Eagles drop to 12-9 overall and 4-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 17-5 overall and 8-3 in the conference.
UW-Eau Claire, ranked 20th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, scored the first seven points of the game before taking a 11-6 lead after the first quarter. UWL used a 5-0 run to start the second quarter to force an 11-11 tie on
Nikki Dienberg's three-pointer. The game was tied, 16-16, when the Eagles scored seven of the next nine points to take a 23-18 advantage with 2:36 remaining in the first half on
Emma Gamoke's three-point basket. UWL led, 23-20, at halftime.
Grace Cote finished with nine points.
The game was tied six times in the third quarter, including 37-37 with 3:50 left. UWL went on a 7-0 run to take a 44-37 lead with 2:22 remaining on a Dienberg layup. UW-Eau Claire cut the lead to 44-41 after three quarters.
UWL took a 49-44 lead with 7:44 left on
Lexie Higgins' layup, but UW-Eau Claire used a 9-0 run to lead 53-49 on Tyra Boettcher's jumper. A pair of free throws from UWL's
Casandra Warmsley cut the deficit to 53-51 with 4:55 remaining when UW-Eau Claire went on a 10-2 run to lead 63-53 with 2:04 left. The Eagles could get no closer than eight points the rest of the game as the Blugolds outscored the Eagles, 30-14, in the fourth quarter.
UWL shot 34.6% from the field Saturday, including 47.1% (eight-of-17) from three-point range, and 73.7% (14-of-19) at the free throw line. Warmsley led the Eagles with 11 points off the bench.
Gabby Ritchie scored nine points off the bench while grabbing a team-high five rebounds. Higgins and
Lauryn Milne each finished with six points.
UW-Eau Claire shot 49.0% from the field, including 28.6% (four-of-14) from three-point range, and 77.3% (17-of-22) at the line. Boettcher led the Blugolds with 20 points while Jessie Ruden finished with 12 and Courtney Crouch with 11. Kylie Morgan finished with a game-high seven rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 9 hosting UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
