La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Women's Basketball team used a big first quarter to help lead them to a 77-55 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over UW-Eau Claire on Saturday afternoon. 

THE BASICS 
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 77, UW-Eau Claire 55
Location: Mitchell Hall, La Crosse, Wis.
Records: UWL 10-6 (3-2 WIAC), UW-Eau Claire 11-5 (1-4WIAC)
Next Up: The Eagles will be back in action on Wednesday, January 21 when they host UW-Stout at 7 p.m.

FROM THE SIDELINES

• Hear from Head Coach Moran Lonning on her throughts of the Eagles big win over UW-Eau Claire: click here

HOW DID IT HAPPEN

• Olivia Witkowski gave UW-Eau Claire an early 5-4 lead with 7:14 left in the first quarter. UWL would then go on a 9-2 run, sparked by five from Lindsey Knuth, to take a 13-7 lead with 3:51 on the clock. After a Kyla Overskei layup cut the Eagle lead to 13-9 (3:15), UWL scored the final seven points of the first quarter to lead 20-9. 
• UWL would score seven of the first nine points of the second quarter to extend its lead to 27-11 with 7:57 left. UW-Eau Claire would respond with a 15-6 run of their own to cut their deficit to 33-26 with 2:23 remaining in the half. Back-to-back baskets by Knuth would put the Eagles up 37-26 (1:49). The two teams would trade baskets the remaining of the first half as Grace Knupp would put the Eagles up 41-30 at halftime with a layup with :03 left. 
• The Eagles opened the second half by scoring eight of the first 10 points to extend their lead to 49-32 with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter. After Ellie Schiszike's three-pointer put the Eagles up 58-41 with 1:20 on the clock, the Blugolds got a basket from Emma Donovan and two free throws from Overskei to pull with in 58-45 (:20). UWL's Rachel Agg would hit a three-pointer on their next possession to put UWL up 61-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
• Back-to-back layups by Molly Janke and Malia Nelson would put UWL up 67-47 with 7:06 left in the contest. Katie Waukau's third three-pointer of the game would give the Eagles its largest lead of the game at 74-52 (2:47) and UW-Eau Claire would not get any closer than 19 (74-55) the rest of the way. 

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• As a team, the Eagles finished 30-of-63 (47.6%) from the floor including seven-of-24 (29.2%) from the three-point line. UWL was also 10-of-12(83.3%) from the free throw line.
• Knuth came off the bench to tie a career high with 17 points to lead the Eagles in scoring. She finished shooting seven-of-10  from the floor including hitting her only three-pointer and making her two free throws. Knuth also finished with four rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals. 
• Also finishing in double figures in scoring for the Eagles was Janke (12), Nelson (12) and Knupp (10). 
• Janke finished with a game high nine rebounds while Nelson added six to help give the Eagles a 34-31 advantage over the Blugolds in rebounding. 
• UW-Eau Claire would shoot 20-of-48 (41.7%) from the floor including three-of-15 (20%) from the three-point line. The Blugolds were also 12-of-23 (52.2%) from the free throw line. 
• Witkowski led the Blugolds with 12 points while Overskei added nine points.