Box Score NORTHFIELD, Minn. (uwrfsports.com)- The UW-River Falls women's basketball team entered its contest against St. Olaf College riding six straight wins to begin the season. That early season success continued on the road against previously once-beaten St. Olaf, as the Falcons (7-0, 0-0 WIAC) defeated the Oles 71-59.
A trio of Falcons scored 55 of the 71 total points the Falcons put on the scoreboard. Junior guard
Brynn Liljander (25 points), sophomore forward
Taylor Karge (17 points), and senior guard
Richell Mehus (13 points) paced the Falcons to victory.
After St. Olaf opened up an early two-point lead, Mehus buried a three point shot and two layups to give the Falcons the early 7-4 lead.
UWRF would go on the first multiple-point run in the middle of the first quarter when the Falcons went on a 10-3 run to extend the lead to 17-7.
Two midrange jump shots from junior forward
Kate Theisen and a St. Olaf three-point basket brought the score to 21-12 after the first quarter.
Head coach
Cindy Holbrook began the second quarter by sending in three bench players: junior guard
Hannah Pignato, junior guard
Cassy Saxton, and junior post player
Taylor Augustine. Augustine contributed right away when she hit two free throws after she was fouled in the post.
The free throws gave the Falcons a nine-point lead, which tied their largest lead at that point in the game. About a minute later, Liljander hit a layup to give the Falcons their biggest lead of the night at 27-16.
The Oles did not let the Falcons out of their sights. After Liljander's bucket that gave the Falcons an 11-point lead, St. Olaf went on a 12-2 run that brought them within one point of the Falcons at 29-28. The battle-tested Falcons went on a mini 5-0 run to bring the halftime score to 34-28. Junior guard
Katie Messman buried a three-point shot with 38 seconds left in the second quarter to widen the gap to six points.
UWRF opened up the third quarter with the ball and took advantage on a Karge layup to bring the score to 36-28. Karge hit two free throws and Liljander made a layup to open the half on a quick 6-0 run.
The trio of Liljander, Karge, and Mehus scored the first 18 points of the third quarter. In that time, the Falcons opened up a double-digit lead that would ultimately be too steep of a deficit for the home team to come back from.
It was not just offense in the third quarter that opened up the game for the Falcons. A stifling Falcon defense only gave up 12 points in the third quarter to a team that was scoring 60 points per game.
The closest that St. Olaf could get to the Falcons was eight points and that came with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter. After St. Olaf trimmed the lead down to eight,
Katie Messman took the air out of the gym by hitting a three point shot to push the Falcons' lead back up to 11 points.
After a series of fouls by St. Olaf and free throws by UWRF, the clock hit zero and the Falcons saw their record go to 7-0 on the season after a 71-59 victory.
St. Olaf scored more second chance points, points in the paint, and bench points, but the Falcons led where it means the most: the final score.
Along with scoring 25 points, Liljander grabbed 10 rebounds to give herself a double-double on the night.
Kate Theisen scored five points off of the bench for the Falcons.
With their victory against St. Olaf, the Falcons are now 5-0 this season against opponents from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).
Next up for the Falcons is the favorite in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Luther College. The Falcons host the Norse at Karges Center on Saturday, Dec. 12. The tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
