Box Score RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com)- The last time the UW-River Falls women's basketball team won an outright WIAC regular season conference title was in 1989. The Falcons (21-4, 12-2 WIAC), who were picked to finish in fifth place in the WIAC, defeated UW-Oshkosh 63-56 to capture their first conference title in 27 years.
Along with the Conference Championship, the Falcons earn the first seed in the WIAC Conference Tournament, which determines who gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
It was a packed house in Karges Center, as Falcon fans dubbed the final game of the regular season as a "white out". It took time for the fans to get into the game because the Titans got out to a 0-6 lead, and it took the Falcons over three minutes to get on the board. Those first points for the Falcons came from junior guard
Brynn Liljander.
UWRF took its first lead of the game at the 3:45 mark in the first quarter when reigning WIAC Conference Player of the Week
Richell Mehus made a layup to give the Falcons a 9-8 lead. UWRF extended its lead by four more points by the end of the first quarter to take a 15-10 lead.
The Falcons began the second quarter by extending their lead even more. Sharp-shooting guards
Katie Messman and
Brynn Liljander buried two three-point field goals and sophomore forward
Taylor Karge made a layup to give the Falcons a 23-10 lead.
By the end of the second quarter, UWRF found itself up 34-17 over the team that was challenging the Falcons for the conference title.
The Titans opened up the third quarter by hitting a three-point field goal and a layup to trim the Falcons' lead to 12 points and get a little bit of momentum back.
Taylor Karge stymied the Titans momentum by making back-to-back two-point field goals to give the Falcons a 16-point lead.
With just over three minutes to play in the third quarter, UWO cut the Falcons lead to 10 points, but on the Falcons next offensive possession,
Brynn Liljander buried a three-point field goal to give the Falcons a 45-32 lead. At the end of the third quarter, UWRF held a 47-36 lead.
Early on in the fourth quarter,
Taylor Karge made sure the Titans were not going to defeat the Falcons. Karge scored the first six points in the fourth quarter for the Falcons to extend the lead out to 14 points. Junior forward
Kate Theisen made a layup after Karge's flurry of points to extend the lead out to 16 points.
That 16-point deficit ultimately doomed the Titans, but they did trim the Falcons' lead down to six points with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Richell Mehus and
Brynn Liljander made a combined six free throws to ice the game and capture the title for the Falcons. The final score was 63-56.
Brynn Liljander led the Falcons in the scoring column with 22 points.
Taylor Karge was right behind her with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Kate Theisen and
Richell Mehus tallied seven and six points, respectively.
The Falcons are back in action on Thursday, February 25 when they host an undetermined opponent in the semifinals of the WIAC Tournament. The tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Karges Center.
