River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Women's Basketball team opened their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) portion of the 2025-26 season with a 52-47 come from behind win over UW-River Falls on Saturday afternoon. 

THE BASICS 
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 52, UW-River Falls 47
Location: Done Page Arena, River Falls, Wis. 
Records: UWL 8-4 (1-0 WIAC), UW-River Falls 7-5, (0-1 WIAC)
Next Up: The Eagles return home for just their second home game of the season on Wednesday, January 7th when they host UW-Oshkosh. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.    

HOW DID IT HAPPEN

• Both teams would get off to a slow start as the first points of the game came with 7:57 on the clock on a three-pointer by Zoey Buchan for the Falcons. UW-River Falls would take its largest lead of the first quarter with a free throw by Savannah Leopold to lead 10-4 (1:22). Two Ellie Schiszik free throws would cut the Eagles deficit to 10-6 which was the score at the end of the quarter. UWL shot just two-of-nine (22.2%) in the first quarter while UW-River Falls shot four-of-17 (23.5%) from the floor. 
• Jenna Welsch would pull the Eagles to with in 10-8 on a jumper on UWL's first possession of the second quarter. After UW-River Falls took a 15-10 lead on a Jocelyn Plonski layup, Grace Knupp would cut the Falcon lead to 15-13 with a three-pointer with 4:33 left in the first half. UW-River Falls would then go on a 10-2 run to take a 25-15 lead with 2:11 on the clock. Welsch's turn around jump shot for the Eagles would make it 26-18 but the Falcons would get a Plonski layup with :11 left as they led 28-18 at the half. 
• The Eagles would open the second half on a 14-4 run to tie the game at 32-32 with 3:18 left in the third quarter. Molly Janke would score the first nine points to spark the run for the Eagles. UW-River Falls would respond with a run of their own as they scored the final seven points of the quarter to lead 39-32.
• Grace Knupp would score the first points of the fourth quarter to pull the Eagles to with in 39-34. After the Falcons took a 43-35 lead on a layup by Boily, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 44-43 with 3:58 left in the game. Malia Nelson and Katie Waukau would hit back-to-back three-pointers to spark the run for the Eagles. Buchan would give the Falcons a 45-44 lead on a layup (3:03) but the Eagles would two free throws from Madisyn Kilboten and a layup by Nelson to put UWL back up 48-45 with 2:07 remaining. UW-River Falls would cut their deficit to one (48-47) on two free throws from Buchan before Janke hit a jumper to put UWL up 50-47 with :48 remaining. After the Eagles miss two free throws, UW-River Falls would get two three-point attempts off but both Welsch and Knupp would each record a block with the second one causing a Falcon shot clock violation with :01 left. Welsch would then hit two free throws to secure the win for the Eagles. 

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• As a team, the Eagles finished 19-of-47 (40.4%) from the floor including five-of-20 (25.0%) from the three-point line. UWL was also nine-of-16 (56.3%) from the free throw line.
• Janke score all 11 of her points in the second half to lead the Eagles in scoring while Nelson added 10 points. 
• Welsch would add eight points and eight rebounds for the Eagles as well. 
• Janke also finished with a game high nine rebounds to help give the Eagles a slight 34-31 advantage in rebounding. 
• UW-River Falls would shoot 19-of-51 (37.3%) from the floor including four-of-16 (25.0%) from the three-point line. The Falcons was also five-of-eight (62.5%) from the free throw line. 
• Buchan would lead the Falcons with 11 points while Boily added 10 points and five rebounds.