The UW-La Crosse women’s basketball team fought a hard won 50-47 victory over Simpson College, from Iowa, Sunday afternoon in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles rallied together to improve their season to a perfect 2-0, while the Storm fell down to 1-1.  This win also helped to earn UW-L’s first 2-0 start to a season since their six game win streak back in the 2010-11 season.  This could potentially help keep the Eagles momentum if they hope to earn another bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament as they did in the 2010-11 season.
The game began with UW-L heading the first half, rushing an early lead to 13-0.  Eventually, the Storm began to get their act together with the clock at 11:18 when Maddie Muhlenburch made a layup, slightly evening the scales to make the score 15-4.
Another one of the Storm’s players, Simpson, began to cut down on the lead even further, leading the score to 19-10 when there was only 6:45 remaining.  However, the Eagles’ very own Sierra Watrud would rally the team forward with a three-point play that would create a 12-2 run over the Storm.  This would assist in pushing the score further in UW-L’s favor with it standing at 31-12 with only 1:04 left in the first half.
When halftime struck, the score ended with the Eagles in the lead at 31-16.
At the beginning of the second half, UW-L’s Maggie Bishop landed one out of two free throws with the clock at 19:46 left in the game, inching the score further to 32-16 in favor of the Eagles.  Simpson however, would once again march on with a run of 12-2 to weaken UW-L’s hold over the game, leaving a score of 34-28 with 15:17 left on the clock.  The Eagles’ MaKenzie Miller and Rachel Atchison responded with a lay-up and three-point field goal, respectively, creating an 11 point lead with a score of 39-28 with only 13:08 on the clock.  Once again, Simpson responded to this challenge with a 10-1 run over the Eagles, creating a score of 40-38 with 10:14 remaining.
UW-L would continue to lead with a score of 44-39 with 6:58 left on the clock with the assist of a jumper involving Elise Denoyer; but, Simpson took the first lead of the game scoring the next six points to create a 45-44 lead in favor of the Storm with 3:33 remaining. Miller’s layup at 3:20 gave the Eagles the lead once again, but only until the Storm’s Britney Boland landed a pair of free throws giving them a 47-46 advantage with 1:55 remaining on the clock.
UW-L soon followed up with a timeout to gather their focus, which inspired Atchison to hit a three-point field goal with only :31 left, taking the lead at 49-47.  Simpson then called for a timeout of their own; with Atchison landing her eighth steal of the game on the following possession and was then fouled.  This sealed the Storm’s fate, with Atchison landing one of her two free throws, thus making the score 50-47 with five seconds to go.