UW-L Drops Second Straight with Loss at UW-Stout

For Immediate Release: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009

Menomonie, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women’s basketball team dropped its second straight WIAC contest with a 71-60 loss at UW-Stout Saturday night in Johnson Fieldhouse in Menomonie. The Eagles, who defeated the Blue Devils 75-56 Jan. 10, fall to 17-7 overall and 9-6 in the conference with Saturday's loss while UW-Stout improves to 14-9 overall and 9-5 in the conference.

With the victory, the Blue Devils take a half-game lead on the Eagles for fourth-place in the WIAC. The top-six teams qualify for the conference tournament starting Feb. 24 with the top-four teams earning home contests.

UW-Stout raced out to a 17-6 lead with 12:45 remaining in the first half as UW-L missed seven of its first 10 field goal attempts and had seven turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game. The Eagles went on a 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 17-14 with 8:08 left as Dana Churchill and Mackenzie Hunter each scored four points. The Blue Devils then finished the half on a 14-8 run to lead 31-22 at halftime.

The Blue Devils led 39-26 with 15:42 remaining in the game before the Eagles came back to make it 41-36 with 11:05 left on a pair of Lindsay Wahl free throws. UW-L later cut the deficit 50-45 with 5:53 remaining, but UW-Stout's Julia Hirssig scored on a layup and Lindsey Gerber hit a three-pointer to make it a 10-point lead. Hunter scored on a jumper with 2:08 left to cut the lead back to five at 59-54, but the Eagles could get no closer the rest of the game.

Hunter led UW-L with 22 points, finishing six-of-19 from the field, including missing all five of her three-point attempts. She was 10-of-10 at the free throw line. Melissa Lang and Anna Halat each scored 10 points for the Eagles while Wahl added nine. Churchill had a team-high eight rebounds. UW-L shot 29.5% from the field, including 21.4% (three-of-14) from three-point range. The team was 21-of-28 (75.0%) at the line.

Charlee Edwards (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Hirssig (18 points, 14 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles for UW-Stout. The Blue Devils shot 37.5% from the field, including 30.0% (three-of-10) from three-point range. The team finished 26-of-32 (81.3%) at the free throw line.

UW-L wraps up its regular season Wednesday, Feb. 18 at fifth-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.