La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Women's Basketball team never trailed as they extended its win streak to five games on Wednesday night with a win over UW-River Falls 78-65.
THE BASICS
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 78, UW-River Falls 65
Location: Mitchell Hall, La Crosse, Wis.
Records: UWL 13-6 (6-2 WIAC), UW-River Falls 11-8 (4-4 WIAC)
Next Up: The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will be on bye this Saturday so the Eagles will not be back in action until Wednesday, February 4 when they host nationally ranked UW-Whitewater. UWL defeated UW-Whitewater 77-54 at Whitewater. The Warhawks were ranked seventh on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll at the time.
Molly Janke
FROM THE SIDELINES
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
- UWL scored a basket on their first possession of the game and would never trail as they built an early 9-2 lead (7:56). UW-River Falls would cut their deficit to 11-7 on a three-pointer by Sidney Schmit; however, UWL quickly scored seven unanswered including Molly Janke's second three-pointer of the game to lead 18-7 with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Madisyn Kilboten's layup would give UWL a 20-9 lead which they held at the end of the first quarter.
- UW-River Falls cut their lead to seven (22-15) but another three-pointer by Janke and and Kilboten put the Eagles up 29-17 with 4:49 left in the second quarter. The Eagles would take its largest lead of the first half after four free throws from Aaliyah Hamilton and a three-pointer by Emma Jossie. The Eagles would lead 40-24 at halftime.
Malia Nelson
- Malia Nelson would open the second half for the Eagles with a three-pointer to make it 43-24. Trailing 47-28, the Falcons went on a 14-6 run to pull within 11 at 53-42 with 2:48 remaining in the third quarter. Kilbotens three-pointer with 1:40 left would put UWL up 58-44 but Emily Anderson would hit a three-pointer for the Falcons as UW-River Falls trailed 58-47 heading into the fourth quarter.
- Annamarie Aue would cut the Eagles lead to eight (60-52) on a three-pointer with 8:01 left in the game. However, that would be as close as the Falcons would get the rest of the game as Jenna Welsch responded with a three-pointer of her own for the Eagles to put the Eagles back up by double digits. UWL would extend their lead to as many as 14 points (73-59) with 2:41 left in the contest.
Grace Knupp
FROM THE BOX SCORE
- As a team, the Eagles finished 25-of-59 (44.1%) from the floor including nine-of-26 (34.6%) from the three-point line. UWL was also 17-of-20 (85.0%) from the free throw line.
- UWL finished with four players in double figures including a team high 16 points from Kilboten.
- Next in scoring for the Eagles was Janke with 15 points while grabbing a game high 14 rebounds to go along with five assists.
- Nelson just missed a triple-double as she scored 12 points, pulled down nine rebounds and dished out nine assists.
- Grace Knupp was the final Eagle in double figures as she chipped in 12 points.
- UW-River Falls would shoot 22-of-61 (36.1%) from the floor including seven-of-28 (25.0%) from the three-point line. The Falcons were also 14-of-22 (63.6.0%) from the free throw line.
- Zoey Buchan led the Falcons with 23 points while Taylor Clarey added 19 points and a team high six rebounds.
