River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team opened the 2025-26 season with a 82-61 loss to Hope College (Mich.) in the UW-River Falls Invitational on Friday night. 

THE BASICS 
Final Score: Hope College (Mich.) 82, UW-La Crosse 61
Location: Don Page Arena, River Falls, Wis.
Records: UWL 0-1, Hope College (Mich.) 1-0
National Rankings: UWL is ranked 15th while Hope is 23rd on the D3hoops.com preseason Top-25 poll. 
Next Up: Day two of the UW-River Falls Invitational will see the Eagles play #18 Calvin College (Mich.), Tip-off is schedule for 1 p.m.
                   
HOW DID IT HAPPEN

• Hope scored seven of the first 10 points to lead 7-3 midway through the first quarter. Madisyn Kilboten and Rachel Agg would hit back-to-back to put UWL up 9-7.  A three-point play by Jenna Welsch would gave UWL a 14-13 lead but the Flying Dutch would score the final eight points of the quarter to lead 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
• A three pointer to start the second quarter would give the Flying Dutch a 24-14 lead. Ali Sprangers would hit a three-pointer of her own to make it 24-17 with 8:41 on the clock in the second quarter. Hope would then go on a 11-2 run to extend their lead to 35-19 with 3:37 left in the half. Agg's second three-pointer of the game followed by a three pointer from Malia Nelson would cut the Eagles deficit to 37-27. Hope would get a layup from Leah Richards with :01 left in the half as the Flying Dutch led 39-27 at the half.
• Nelson hit a layup on the Eagles first possession of the second half; however, the Flying Dutch went on a 19-3 run to take a 58-32 lead with 2:33 left in the third quarter. The Eagles would trail 62-39 at the end of the third quarter. 
• A three-point play by Anna Richards would give the Flying dutch its largest lead of the (68-40) with 8:56 left in the game. Katie Waukau's three-pointer would cut the Eagles deficit to 80-61 but that would be as close as UWL would get. 

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• As a team, the Eagles finished 21-of-58 (36.2%) from the floor including eight-of-29 (27.6%) from the three-point line. UWL was also 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line.
• The Eagles finished with three players in double figures led by Nelson with 13 points while Agg and Sydney Torgerson each had 10. 
• Nelson also led the Eagles in rebounding with five while Torgerson and Ellie Schiszik each had four. 
• Hope finished 29-of-62 (46.8%) from the floor including seven-of-18 (38.9%) from the three-point line. The Flying Dutch were also 17-of-20 (80%) from the free throw line. 
• Leah Richards led the Flying Dutch with 21 points and six rebounds while Sydney Vis added 17 points, three assists and two rebounds.