The Falcon women's basketball team got a crucial win at UW-Stout on Saturday, 63-44.

Tiffany Gregorich (Altoona, Altoona) led the Falcons and all scorers with 26 points. Seventeen of those points came in the first half. She also had six rebounds and seven assists. Those seven assists also led all players.

The Falcons opened the game on a 5-0 run. The Blue Devils would fight back to go ahead by as many as five shortly thereafter. With 8:57 to go in the half, Holst connected on a jumper to tie the game at 15, and then the Falcons went on a tear, leading by as many as 14 for the remainder of the half. UWRF would go into halftime leading 37-23. 

Alise Holst (Plainview, MN, Plainview-Elgin-Millville) would finish the game with 15 points and six rebounds. Four of her rebounds were on the offensive end.

The second half was all Falcons as they would go on stellar runs of 9-0 and 6-0 respectively. The closest the Blue Devils would come was seven with 16:01 to go in the game, 37-30. The Falcons would lead by as many as 22 with 5:33 remaining as well as with 54 seconds left in the game.

The Falcons defense limited only one Stout player to reach double digits. Tricia VanVreede scored 11 points for the Blue Devils, who as a team were a cold 18-51 from field goal range, connecting on 35.2 percent of their shots. VanVreede led all players in rebounding with nine.

The Falcons meanwhile shot a much better 42.6 percent or 23-53 on the night.

UWRF was in command in all defensive matters but one. They controlled the turnover ratio by forcing 21 by Stout while only committing 16. They also held a slight advantage in rebounding, grabbing 38 compared to the Blue Devils 35. Maranda Dohrn (Lake City, MN, Lake City) led the Falcons on the boards with a steady seven. The Blue Devils had the only advantage by taking one more steal than the Falcons. Stout had nine steals during the game while they Falcons were just under with eight.

Win the win, the Falcons improve to 13-5 overall and 5-4 in the WIAC. The Blue Devils drop to 7-11 and 2-7 in the WIAC.

Up next for the Falcons is another pivotal match against WIAC foe UW-Superior. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Superior.  The Falcons are 51-18 all-time against the Yellowjackets.