River Falls, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) – Against an undefeated Gustavus Adolphus team, the UW-River Falls women's basketball team came up just short of the upset and fell 60-56 at Karges Center.

THE RUNDOWN
Final Score: UW-River Falls: 56, Gustavus Adolphus 60
Location: Karges Center, River Falls, Wisconsin
Record: UWRF: 5-6, Gustavus Adolphus (11-0, 4-0 MIAC)
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• The Falcons were down by seven points with 3:10 to go, but roared back to trail by just two before a stop by Gustavus on a Hannah Pignato attempt, sealed the victory for the visiting Gusties.
• Early on in the first quarter, the two teams exchanged blows with the Falcons taking a four point lead with four minutes to go in the first quarter with back-to-back buckets by Taylor Paulsrud.
• Gustavus took the lead back, but Ali Clark came in and connected on an and-one and a layup by Paulsrud put the game back into the Falcons hands. UWRF led 22-18 after the first quarter.
• Kate Theisen sank a layup at the start of the second quarter to give the Falcons a six point lead, their largest for the entire game.
• Gustavus took the lead back at 5:53 to go in the second, and would exchange the lead a few more times before the halftime buzzer sounded with the Gusties leading 32-30.
• In the third quarter, the Falcons were able to tie the game numerous times, but couldn't take the lead outright until 3:26 to go with a three pointer by Katie Messman, which was the Falcons first three of the game.
• After Gustvaus tied the game, Ali Clark would hit a layup with just 10 seconds to go in the quarter to give the Falcons momentum, and the lead, headed into the fourth quarter.
• In the fourth, Gustavus took control early, with a 12-2 run, Gustavus led by eight points with 6:09 to go.
• The Falcons made a valiant effort at the end of the game, and nearly tied the game up in the waning seconds, but came up just short and dropped their third straight game to fall to 5-6.
• From the field, the Falcons shot a solid 23-52 (44.2 percent) with 30 of their points coming in the paint.

 
IN-DEPTH LOOK

• Ali Clark finished with a career-high 18 points on 8-13 shooting and added nine rebounds, six of them coming on the offensive boards.
• Messman added 11 points, which led all starters, on 4-9 shooting and had two of the team's three shots from beyond the arc.
• Paulsrud had nine points on the night, and Theisen had six points.

THE OPPOSITION

• Mikayla Miller had a huge game for the undefeated Gusties. She finished with 23 points, 16 of them coming in the first half, on 6-13 shooting. She was also 9-10 from the free throw line.
• Miranda Rice added 10 points for Gustavus, she was 4-9 and had six rebounds.
• From the floor Gustvaus shot 17-52 (32.7 percent) and 2-22 (9.1 percent) from the three point line. As a team, they were 24-33 (72.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

 
LOOKING AHEAD
Now the Falcons shift their focus to conference season. Their first WIAC foe will be against UW-Eau Claire on the road on January 4^th with the tip at 7 p.m. UWRF will return home on January 11^th against UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.