The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Women’s Basketball defeated UW-River Falls by a score of 62-56 on Wednesday, Feb 19 in Mitchell Hall. All time, the Eagles are 10-2 against the Falcons and have won the last two matchups.
The Eagles began the game on offense but struggled to find the basket until nearly two and a half minutes into the game, when Grace Knupp stole the ball and took it to the rim for an easy layup. Offensively, the Eagles struggled in the first quarter, shooting 28.57% from the field. Luckily, the Eagles were able to force two three-pointers from turnovers to only be down three to the Falcons at the end of the 1st quarter, 10 to 13.
In the second quarter, the Eagles shot 6-16 from the field, with half of the Eagles’ attempts and makes coming from beyond the three-point line. The Eagles put up a total of 16 points in the second quarter, including trips to the charity stripe from Knupp and Lauryn Milne. The Eagles were able to convert 3 offensive rebounds into second change points during the second quarter.
The Eagles also gave up the ball five times in the first half, but the Falcons were only able to convert the turnovers into five points, including a three-pointer to tie the game 26-26 heading into the half.
In the third, the Eagles shot more efficiently from all-around. The Eagles shot 6-of-13 (46.15%) from the field, and an astounding 57.14% from three-point range, with buckets from beyond the arc courtesy of Ali Sprangers contributing to the Eagles dominance in the second half.
The Eagles put up 18 points in the third, holding a two-point lead over the Falcons heading into the fourth with the score at 44-42.
The Eagles opened the fourth quarter with a layup from Milne and two buckets from Sprangers to make the score 51-44 with 7:46 left on the clock. The Eagles would go through a scoring drought lasting 3:28 but came up clutch defensively and only gave up two points. During the drought, the Falcons drew three fouls against the Eagles but only took one trip to the line, sinking both free throws.
With 4:18 left to play, Malia Nelson converted an and-one via an assist from Sprangers to put the Eagles up by seven. With 2:55 remaining, the Falcons converted a three to cut the lead to four. The Falcons found the net once again with 1:32 left to play with a coast-to-coast fast break layup from Olivia Hoerl to cut the Eagles’ lead to just two points, 55-53.
The Falcons wouldn’t get any closer for the rest of the contest, however. Nelson came up clutch down the stretch for the Eagles, scoring a layup to put the Eagles up by five with 18 seconds to go.
Five seconds later, Nelson bagged a steal and converted ½ bonus free throws to seal the Falcons’ fate. The Eagles would go on to claim their ninth home win of the season, and fifth win in the last six games by a score of 62-56.
Milne had her sixth double-double night of the 2024-2025 campaign, dropping 17 points and 11 rebounds along with 2 assists. Knupp also contributed 13 points and Nelson had 11. As a team, the Eagles shot 24-of-57 (42.1%) from the floor in the contest.
Defensively for the Eagles, Madisyn Kilboten had 3 steals and Nelson had two, with Katie Waukau and Knupp also contributing one steal each. Kailee Meeker had one block.
With one game to go in the season, the Eagles are currently 15-9, fifth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings behind #7 UW-Oshkosh, #19 UW-Stout, #24 UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point.
With the win, the Eagles stay alive and have a shot at a berth into the national tournament. Currently, the Eagles are unranked but received seven votes in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 Week 11 poll. Seven votes are the most the Eagles have received this season, earning two Top 25 votes in week one and week two.
The Eagles will finish the regular season against UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. To watch live, visit the UW-Stevens Point website. The Eagles will begin postseason play on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Opponent and location TBD. The best-case and most likely scenario for the Eagles would require a win on Saturday, resulting in a matchup against the Pointers again on Tuesday at home in Mitchell Hall.
If the Eagles are victorious in both contests, the team will play on the road on Thursday, Feb. 27 against UW-Stout or UW-Whitewater in the Conference Tournament Semifinal.
The box score for this matchup and team schedule for the remainder of the season can be found on the UWL Athletics website. The women’s basketball conference standings and conference tournament schedule can be found on the WIAC website.
