The women’s basketball team had a monumental win in Mitchell Hall Wednesday, Feb. 2.
The Eagles not only took the win from the Blue Devils of Stout with a score of 52-36, they then awarded Coach Lois Heeren with her 200th victory at UW-La Crosse. There were over 215 fans in attendance, and the night was a designated Staff and Faculty Appreciation night.
The game began with UW-S winning the tip off, but that did not stop the Eagles from putting the first points on the board. Strong offense was present when the Eagles showed a solid passing game and willingness to shoot. By the end of the first half, UW-L found themselves leading UW-S 32-13.
In the second half, the Blue Devils made a run to try to close the seemingly growing gap in the score. They managed to cut the Eagles lead to only 12 points part way through the second half, but that is as close as the Eagles were going to allow. The Eagles managed to close the game with a 16 point lead, shutting out any chance for the Blue Devils. The Eagle’s scoring was led by sophomore Rachel Atchison with 12 points, followed by freshman Elise DeNoyer with 10 points and sophomore MaKenzie Miller with nine points. The leading rebounder was junior Cameron Chapin with seven, followed by junior Maggi Bishop, Denoyer and Miller with six rebounds each. The Eagles made 41.7 percent of their shots from the field, 33.3 percent of their three point shots, and 47.6 percent of their free throws.  Heeren accredits the win to both offense and defense.
“Our game plan going in was to be the aggressor,” Heeren explained. “Especially on the offensive end, we wanted to score more in the paint because we feel like their defense is very strong. I thought we accomplished that in the first half,  [so] we backed off a little bit in the second half that we were not the aggressor, they came out the aggressor.”
After the game was over, Heeren was recognized for her 200th win at UW-L. She has spent 16 seasons with the Eagles. With this record, she is the coach with the most wins in UW-L’s history. In previous years, she coached at Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota and Truman State University in Missouri, bringing her total wins to a staggering 252. However, this win does not take her sights away from her primary goals. She still has high hopes for the conference tournament after the season as the regular season as it is coming to a close.
“We’ve got to take care of our own business. We’re in control of our own destiny right now,” Heeren said. “We’ve got two more home games and two away. If we could continue playing together and we always have a motto- play hard, play smart, play together. Our goal is definitely get into the conference tournament. It’s still attainable. We’ve got to control and that’s taking care of the business on both ends of the floor.”
The Eagles played UW-Superior Saturday, Feb. 7, and suffered a close loss, 65-67. Their last away game was played Wednesday, Feb. 11. against UW-Oshkosh. The next game will be played Saturday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. in Mitchell Hall against UW-Eau Claire.