UW-L Falls in Overtime at UW-Stout in WIAC Quarterfinal

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Menomonie, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women’s basketball team fell 65-63 in overtime at UW-Stout Tuesday night in a WIAC Tournament Quarterfinal in Johnson Fieldhouse. The Eagles finish their season at 14-12 while the Blue Devils improve to 17-9 and advance to play at top-seeded UW-Eau Claire in the tournament semifinals Thursday, February 28.

Charlee Edwards hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded to give UW-Stout the victory Tuesday night. The game was tied 59-59 at the end of regulation. The Blue Devils took a two-point lead to start the extra session on a pair of free throws from Lindsey Geissler. The Eagles tied it at 61-61 with 3:53 left on Mackenzie Hunter's jumper. After UW-Stout missed four field goal attempts and a UW-L turnover, the Blue Devils' Julia Hirssig hit a jumper to make it 63-61 with 1:54 left.

Sam Aspenson hit a pair of free throws for UW-L to tie at 63-63 with 1:33 remaining. After Edwards missed a pair of free throws with 1:17 left, the Eagles' missed a layup with just under a minute left. The Blue Devils turned the ball over, but the Eagles missed a jumper with :19 remaining. After a pair of UW-Stout timeouts, including the last with :00.5 left, Edwards hit her game-winning jumper on an assist from Geissler.

The Blue Devils raced out to a 9-0 lead to start the game before the Eagles forced a 11-11 tie with 9:13 left in the first half. UW-Stout led 16-13 when UW-L went on a 8-0 run to lead 21-16 with 3:38 remaining. The Eagles led 22-20 at halftime.

UW-Stout started the second 20 minutes on a 12-3 run to lead 32-25 and later led 45-37 with 11:04 left, but UW-L went on a 12-2 run to take a 49-47 lead with 7:37 remaining. The Eagles led 55-51 with 4:45 left after a Hunter jumper and UW-L led 57-54 with 2:09 remaining after Mandy Stevens hit two free throws. Hirssig cut the margin to one for UW-Stout with 1:53 left before Hunter scored on another layup for a 59-56 lead with :37 remaining.

Joanna Bird hit a pair of free throws for UW-Stout to make it 59-58 with :26 left and after UW-L missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, Hirssig tied it with one-of-two free throws with :08 remaining. UW-L was called for an offensive foul on its next possession, but Geissler's shot at the buzzer was missed to force overtime.

Stevens led UW-L with 18 points while Hunter finished with 15, Lindsay Wahl 11 and Aspenson 10. Hunter and Wahl led the Eagles with seven rebounds.

UW-L shot 40.0% from the field, including missing their only three-point attempt, and 76.0% (19-of-25) at the free throw line.

Hirssig led UW-Stout with 20 points and 17 rebounds while Edwards finished with 17. The Blue Devils shot 29.5% from the field, including 21.1% (four-of-19) from three-point range. The team finished 15-of-23 (65.2%) at the line.