The UW-River Falls Falcons picked up a much needed WIAC win at home against UW-Stout, 51-49, with Taylor Karge coming up with a clutch last second block. 

"This was one of those must win games for us. Both games this week are huge games for us," Falcon Coach Cindy Holbook said. "Stout is a tough team and I thought their toughness really hit us in the second half but we did what we needed to do to come out with the win." 

After a quick Bluedevils basket Richell Mehus answered for the Falcons first score. After the score UWRF went on a roll taking an 11-2 lead by the first timeout helped by a layup and three for Taylor Karge. 

After the first media timeout Stout was able to settle down and cut into the Falcon lead making it a 13-8 game with just under fourteen minutes to go in the first half. Shortly after Kate Theisen came up with a big and one play to stop the Bluedevil momentum with 13 minutes left in the half. By the second media timeout UWRF had an 18-8 lead. 

Out of the timeout the Falcons went on another run with a big three from Katie Messman and a pretty step back jumper from Hannah Pignato to go up 23-9 with under nine minutes left in the half. Both teams stalled for a bit for the next four minutes but after the final media timeout of the half, UWRF led 23-11 over the Bluedevils. 

Mehus hit a big three to come out of the timeout for UWRF. With just a minute and a half left in the first half Stout hit a big three to pull within ten points and that would be the final score of the half as the Falcons took a 26-16 lead into the locker room. 

At the half Mehus had seven points and five boards. Theisen and Karge each added five points while Jenna Goldsmith chipped in 10 points for the Bluedevils to lead all scorers at half. 

To start the second half UWRF went with a different look sitting all five starters. Going into the first media timeout, Stout cut the lead to seven trialing 28-21 to UWRF. 

With 14:30 left in the half Stout pulled within four after a big three but Theisen quickly answered with a three point play the old fashioned way on the next possession. With just over 13 minutes to go Stout hit a lay up and followed it with a steal on the inbounds and another quick score and one to pull within four points. Going into a media timeout with 11:08 left in the second half UWRF clung to a 34-30 lead. 

The Bluedevils crashed the boards strong in the second half with 12 offensive boards in the half and 17 in the game including a put back right out of the timeout to pull within two points. Jessie Van Wyhe came up with two much needed baskets on the next two UWRF possessions to bump the Falcons back up by six with under 10 minutes to go. The teams continued to trade baskets as Stout came down and hit a three right after. UWRF still led 38-37 going into the media timeout with 7:24 left in the half. 

The Bluedevils took their first lead since the start of the game with just under seven minutes to go after a jump shot put them up 39-38 over UWRF. Stout went on a bit of a run after that going up 44-38 with over five minutes left in the half. Theisen and Messman each knocked down two free throws a piece to bring UWRF back within two with four minutes left in the half and into the final media timeout. 

Katelynne Folkers hit a couple big threes in the second half four the Bluedevils including one to go up 47-42 over UWRF with three minutes left. Karge quickly scored inside the paint on a double move to make it a three point game again. Free throws were a big factor in the game as UWRF went 11-17 in the second half from the charity stripe and 16-22 overall in the game including two big ones from Mehus to make it a one piont game with under two minutes left. 

Mehus hit two more big free throws with 56 seconds left to give UWRF a 48-47 lead but Stout came down and scored off an offensive rebound to take the lead right back with 38 seconds to go. Theisen scored with 11 seconds left in the game as the shot clock was winding down to give UWRF a 50-49 lead.

With four seconds left a foul was called on UWRF, but it was just the sixth team foul of the half giving Stout a chance to inbounds the ball underneath the basket down by one point. Van Wyhe jumped the inbounds but stepped out of bounds leaving 3.4 seconds on the clock. On the next inbounds attempt the Bluedevils had a look but Karge came up with a huge block and rebound to seal the game as she went to the free line with just .4 seconds left in the game. 

Theisen led the Falcons in scoring with 16 points while grabbing five rebounds. Mehus scored 12 while grabbing a team high seven rebounds, Karge scored eight, Van Wyhe six and Messman five. Pignato had six rebounds while Taylor Augustine and Hayley Rau each added five rebounds. 

UWRF is now 9-13 overall on the season and 4-9 in the WIAC and will play next on Saturday against UW-Whitewater for the Red Out for Leo Game with tip off set for 3 p.m.. The team is looking to break the all-time attendance record for a single game which is 681 right now. There will be a silent auction and Leo shirts sold for $15 a piece. More information on the event here. 

Box Score