The women's basketball team had their best shooting performance of the season, but it was not enough as the Falcons fell to UW-Platteville, 73-64 at Platteville.
As a team, the Falcons fired an outstanding 25-54 or 46.3 percent from the field goal range.
Platteville started the game on an 8-0 run until Taylor House (Maple Grove, MN, Maple Grove) put the Falcons on the board with 15:12 remaining in the first half. The Falcons responded by chipping away at the UWP lead and a defense that literally shut the door on Platteville's offense.
The Falcons defense was stingy, holding the Pioneers to without a field goal from 10:28 to go in the first half, all the way down to the halftime buzzer. Platteville would not score a field goal until the 18:08 mark of the second half, a time spanning 12:30.
With 3:39 to go in the first half, Alise Holst (Plainview, MN, Plainview-Elgin-Millville) gave the Falcons their first lead of the night, connecting on a layup as UWRF went up 20-19.
After that, it was all Falcons in the first half. Maranda Dohrn (Lake City, MN, Lake City) would score two layups and Melissa Carmody (Barneveld, Barneveld) a three-pointer to put the Falcons up by eight. During that span, Nikki Guhr (Muskego, Muskego) would assist on two of those three baskets. The Falcons would go into halftime on a 13-0 run.
The Falcons would come out of the gate firing in the second half, expanding their run to 15 straight points. This run accumulated from 6:31 in the first half up until the 18:08 mark of the second half.
The largest lead for the Falcons came when they were up 11 with 18:46 to play.
The Pioneers however, would try to close the gap on the Falcons. With 5:35 remaining, the Pioneers would tie the game at 53. Guhr would score a basket to put the Falcons back up by two, but Claire Poad would sink a three-pointer to put Platteville up by one with 4:40 to play. It was Platteville's first lead of the half. The last time UWP was ahead was with 3:39 to go in the first half.
Ashley Wolf of UWP would nail four free throws and a three pointer to put the Pioneers up seven with 2:57 remaining.
Holst would respond with a three-pointer to cut the Pioneer lead down to five with 49 seconds remaining, but that was the closest the Falcons would come for the remainder of the game.
Holst and Dohrn lead the Falcons with 13 points and five rebounds apiece.Tiffany Gregorich (Altoona, Altoona) would finish with 11.
Wolf would end with a game high 30 points for UWP.
The Falcons were troubled by fouls and turnovers. Three different Falcons fouled out during the game. The Falcons also committed 21 turnovers, compared to the Pioneers 14.
The Falcons would however, outrebound the Pioneers. The Falcons grabbed 38 and the Pioneers 24.
This was the third loss in a row for the Falcons.
The Falcons fall to 15-10 overall and 7-9 in the WIAC. Platteville meanwhile improves to 6-19 overall and 2-14 in the WIAC.
Up next for the Falcons is the first round of the WIAC play-offs. The Falcons finished in a tie with UW-Oshkosh for fifth place with 7-9 records in the WIAC. The Falcons won the tie breaker over the Titans and will be the tourney's No. 5 seed. UWRF will play at No. 4 seeded UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday. Action starts at 7 p.m.
Box Score
