La Crosse, Wis. - Kyah Steiner hit a layup with 0.4 left as the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team defeated UW-Stevens Point, 47-45, Saturday afternoon at Mitchell Hall. The win moves the Eagles to 13-2 overall and 2-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers fall to 9-6 overall and 1-3 in the WIAC. 
 

Trailing 45-43, UWL tied the game up on a layup by Steiner while being fouled. Steiner missed free throw to give the Eagles the lead. On the next possession, the Pointers would get a shot and offensive rebound but the Eagles forced a turnover with :18 left on the clock. After a UWL timeout, the Eagles ran their offense with Steiner driving to the hoop and scoring on a layup with 0.4 remaining. The Pointers called a timeout and advanced the ball to half court but Alexa Thomson's three-point attempt hit the rim and bounced out giving the Eagles the 47-45 win. 

UWL took an early 2-0 lead on a layup by Lauryn Milne before Thomson gave the Pointers a 3-2 lead with a three-pointer. Trailing 5-4, the Eagles scored the next five points on a jumper from Milne and three-pointer from Carly Coulthart. The Pointers scored the final six points of the first quarter as they got back-to-back three pointers from Katelyn Slowik and Emily Mortenson to lead 11-9. 

Ali Sprangers hit a three-pointer to start the second quarter as the Eagles took a 12 -11 lead but that was short lived as Gabby Gawlitta gave the Pointers a 14-12 lead with a three-pointer of her own. Steiner tied the game up (14-14) for the Eagles with 9:01 left in the second quarter; however, the Pointers then went on a 10-0 run to lead 24-14 with 4:21 remaining. The Eagles slowly chipped away at their deficit as they scored 10 of the final 12 points to trail 26-24 at halftime. Casandra Warmsley scored seven of the Eagles' final 12 points. 

UWL continued its scoring run to start the third quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 35-28 lead with 6:04 left. UW-Stevens Point cut the deficit to 35-33 on a three-pointer from Olivia Hoerl with 4:28 left on the clock. The Eagles led 39-36 at the end of the third quarter. 

After UWL took a 42-36 lead with 8:22 remaining in the game, UW-Stevens Point scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 45-43 lead with 4:10 remaining. That would be all of the scoring for the Pointers as they were held scoreless over the final 4:10 of the game. 
 

As a team, UWL shot 34.0% (18-of-53) from the field, including 26.1% (six-of-23) from the three-point line. The Eagles shot 38.5% (five-of-13) at the free throw line.

Leading the way for the Eagles was Steiner who finished with 12 points while Warmsley and Alana Gilles each added nine and Coulthart eight. Steiner also finished with four rebounds, four steals and three assists. Giles led the Eagles with nine rebounds.

UW-Stevens Point shot 29.6% (16-of-54) from the field, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range. The Pointers shot 87.5% (seven-of-eight) at the line. 

Thomson led UW-Stevens Point with 10 points and nine rebounds while Gawlitta added nine points and game-high 10 rebounds. Slowik and Courtney Krueger each added seven points for the Pointers. UW-Stevens Point finished the game with a 45-31 advantage in rebounding.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 11 hosting UW-Stout at 7 p.m.