Box Score Whitewater Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team defeated Colorado College Friday night in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Dvision III Women's Basketball First Round.

THE BASICS 
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 79, Colorado College 52
Location: Kachel Gymnassium, Whitewater, Wis. 
Records: UWL 17-11, Colorado College 23-4
NCAA Tournament History: UWL earns its first NCAA Tournament win since 1988 and improves to 6-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. 
Next Up: UWL advances to play UW-Whitewater in the NCAA III Women's Basketball Second Round on Saturday, March 8 at 7 p.m. These two teams are very familiar with each other as they played twice during the regular season. The Warhawks defeated the Eagles 62-56 at Mitchell Hall on January 25 and then won in their home gym 74-62 on February 12. 

FROM THE PRESS ROOM

• Eagle Postgame Press Conference with Coach Moran Lonning, Lauryn Milne and Ali Sprangers.

           
HOW DID IT HAPPEN

• After Colorado College hit a layup on their opening possession, UWL's Ali Sprangers hit a three-pointer followed by back-to-back jumpers by Lauryn Milne to take an early 7-4 lead. The Tigers then scored seven of the next 11 points to tie the game at 11 with 3:29 left in the first quarter. UWL would score the final four points of the first quarter to lead 19-15. 
• Malia Nelson would hit a three pointer with 9:19 on the clock in the second quarter followed by a jumper from Grace Knupp to give the Eagles a 24-17 lead (7:54). Isa Nelson would hit a three-pointer for Colorado College to cut their deficit to 24-23. Sprangers and Madisyn Kilboten would hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Eagles a 34-25 with 2:05 left in second quarter. Kilboten would hit two free throws with :03 left to give the Eagles a 38-27 lead at halftime. 
• Colorado College would score on a layup on their first possession of the second half before Sprangers and Nelson each hit jumpers to give UWL a 42-29 lead (7:54). Lindsey Knuth would give the Eagles a 44-30 lead but the Tigers would score eight of the next 11 points to cut their deficit to 47-38. The Eagles would lead 53-43 after three quarters. 
• Healy Bledsoe would cut the Tigers deficit to 56-48 with 8:18 left in the game. Sprangers would hit her third three-pointer of the game game to spark an Eagle 10-1 run to give UWL a 69-49 lead with 4:30 remaining. Kailee Meeker capped the Eagles run with a three-pointer. Colorado College would not get any closer than 17 points the rest of the way (4:06). 

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• As a team, the Eagles finished 31-of-67 (46.3%) from the floor including 12-of-30 (40%) from the three-point line. UWL was also five-of-eight (62.5%) from the free throw line. 
• Milne scored a game high 23 points while Sprangers, Kilboten and Knupp each added 11 points. 
• Malia Nelson added seven points and a time high eight rebounds 
• Colorado College shot 21-of-52 (40.4%) from the floor including six-of-21(28.6%) from the three-point line. The Tigers also shot four-of-seven (57.1%) from the free throw line. 
• Zoe Tomlinson led the Tigers with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Bledsoe added 14 points.