The Falcon women's basketball team dropped a 62-48 decision at UW-La Crosse on Wednesday night at Mitchell Hall in La Crosse.
The Falcons opened the game on an 11-0 run. Four different Falcons scored during that run. Maranda Dohrn (Lake City, MN, Lake City) had four rebounds, two steals and a block during the opening minutes to highlight a stellar Falcon defense. She also had four of the Falcons 11 points during the run. Dohrn would finish with her sixth double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and ripping down 11 boards.
The lid came off the basket for the Eagles soon thereafter, as they would trim the Falcon lead down to three just two minutes later.
The Falcons were plagued by 15 turnovers in the first half and the Eagles took advantage by scoring 17 points off of the turnovers.
Late in the first half, UWRF went on a dry spell and did not score a point for the final 7:08 of the half. The Eagles would close the half on a 6-0 scoring run to close out the half leading by six.
But the Falcons fought back in the second half. After being down by as many as 11, they trimmed the lead to three with 8:41 to go. But the Eagles slowly built up their lead to 10 with 5:07 left in the game. Neither team would score during the final four minutes before Alise Holst (Plainview, MN, Plainview-Elgin-Millville) scored with 40 seconds to go in the game to trim the Eagle lead to eight. But UWL would score six points in the final 40 seconds to go up by the final margin of victory at 14. Holst finished with seven points and nine rebounds on the evening. The Falcons would never lead in the second half.
Tiffany Gregorich (Altoona, Altoona) led all scorers with 21 points. She also grabbed seven boards. UWL had three players scoring in double figures. They were lead by Danielle Frank who finished with 15.
The Falcons were cold from both the three-point line and on free throws. The Falcons made one three pointer on the night and were a cold 5-13 from the charity stripe for 38.5 percent. UWL was a much better 9-16 or 56.3 percent from the line.
The Eagles took advantaged of a deeper bench, scoring 11 while holding the Falcons bench to a mere four.
UWRF suffered from 23 turnovers compared to the Eagles 17. The Eagles also had 11 blocks on the night. The Falcons finished with three. The Eagles were also able to spread the ball around more, benefiting on 16 assists. The Falcons were held to five assists throughout the game.
The Falcons however dominated the boards, pulling down an outstanding 47 while holding the Eagles to 35. Only 10 of the Eagles boards were offensive, compared to the Falcons who grabbed 23. UWRF also had more steals, taking away 13 while only allowing the Eagles to take 11.
The loss drops the Falcons to 11-5 overall and 3-4 in the WIAC. The Eagles meanwhile improve to 12-4 and 5-2 in the WIAC.
Up next for the Falcons is a WIAC match up against UW-Platteville. Game time is set for 6 p.m., on Saturday at the Karges Center. The Falcons are 37-23 all time against the Pioneers.
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