Mankato, Minn. - A well balanced offensive attack leads the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team past Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) 64-44 on Thursday night.
THE BASICS
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 64, Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) 44
Location: North Gym, Mankato, Minn.
Records: UWL 2-1, Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) 0-3
National Rankings: UWL is ranked 15th on the D3hoops.com preseason Top-25 poll.
Next Up: The Eagles will stay on the road for their next contest as they travel to Winona, Minn. to play a non-conference game against St. Mary's University (Minn.) on Saturday, November 15. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
- A Grace Knupp three-pointer would give UWL an early 8-6 lead but that was short lived as Lauren Bauer hit a three for the Vikings to regain the lead at 9-8 (2:05). An Ellie Schiszik three-pointer followed by back-to-back three-pointers by Katie Waukau would give the Eagles a 17-14 lead. The Vikings would get a free throw with :31 left but UWL led 17-15 at the end of the first quarter.
- The Eagles would outscore the Vikings 14-3 in the second quarter to lead 31-18 at halftime. After Bethany Lutheran cut their deficit to 19-18, UWL scored the next 12 points for the 13 point halftime lead.
- The Vikings would score six of the first eight points of the third quarter to pull within 33-24 with 6:25 left on the clock. Three straight layups for the Eagles would quickly extend the Eagles lead back to 39-24 with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter. The Eagles would lead 45-30 at the end of the third quarter.
- Schiszik would open the fourth quarter with a three pointer while UWL scored eight of the first 13 points to take its largest lead of the game at 57-35 with 4:35 left in the game. The Vikings would not get any closer than 18 (62-44) the rest of the contest.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
- As a team, the Eagles finished 23-of-63 (36.5%) from the floor including eight-of-26 (30.8%) from the three-point line. UWL was also 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line.
- UWL finished with seven players scoring at least six points led by Waukau with 10 points.
- Knupp, Molly Janke and Jenna Welsch each added seven points while Madisyn Kilboten, Schiszik and Sydney Torgerson each added six points.
- Lindsey Knuth finished with a team high seven rebounds to help give the Eagles a 40-29 advantage.
- Bethany Lutheran shot 18-of-51 (35.3%) from the floor including two-of-17 (11.8%) from the three-point line. The Vikings were also six-of-11 (54.5%) from the free throw line.
- Arinn McGee led the Vikings with 14 points and seven rebounds.
