Box Score

RIVER FALLS, WIs. (uwrfsports.com) - The 18^th UW- River Falls women's basketball team (17-4, 8-2 WIAC) are now in first place in the WIAC with a victory over the 16^th ranked UW- Stevens Point Pointers 77-67 at Karges.

With a 28 point fourth quarter, and zero turnovers in the entire second half, the Falcons were able to avenge their earlier loss this season to the Pointers.

In the first quarter, it was the Pointers who struck first with a three pointer but UW- River Falls responded via a Katie Messman three pointer to tie the game 3-3. After the first Pointer basket, the Falcons went on a 9-0 run to lead 9-3 with 5:52 to go in the first quarter.

UW- Stevens Point did not shy away using an 8-2 run to tie the game 11-11 with 3:25 to go in the first quarter. The Pointers used a 10-3 run at the end of the first quarter to take a 21-14 lead into the second quarter with Taylor Douglas scoring 14 points in the opening quarter.

The second quarter proved to be a heavyweight battle as the Falcons closed the gap to just two points with 7:17 remaining in the second quarter. The Falcons hung around for most of the second quarter, but did not take back the lead, and trailed by five at the halftime buzzer. At halftime, junior guard Brynn Liljander led with 11 points. Taylor Karge with seven points.

At the start of the second half, the UW- Stevens Point Pointers looked to take control, and opened up their biggest lead of the game with a 48-36 lead with 7:00 to go in the third quarter. The Falcons, down 10 with 3:03 to go in the third quarter, closed the gap to a five point deficit heading into the fourth quarter with the score at 54-49, five of those points coming from junior Ali Clark off the bench.

In the fourth quarter, the Falcons stormed into the lead with an 8-1 run and took a 57-55 lead with 7:51 to go in the game. UW- Stevens Point took the lead right back with four straight free throws and led 59-57 with 5:54 to go. The Falcons, facing a two point lead at home, used a 16-2 run with seven of those points coming from Liljander. The Falcons were able to run out the clock and win 77-67 and with a UW- Oshkosh loss, moved into first place of the WIAC.

As a team, the Falcons shot 25-54 (46.3 percent) and connected on seven shots from beyond the arc in 17 attempts. UWRF was 20-29 from the free throw line, and in the second half did not commit a single turnover. River Falls was able to get 16 bench points, 12 of those points coming from Clark on 4-7 shooting. UW- River Falls was able to force 16 turnovers by the Pointers and turned those into 22 points.

Individually, Liljander lead with 26 points on 6-13 shooting and connected on four shots from the three point line and was 10-12 from the charity stripe. Taylor Karge was 7-14 from the floor to finish with 16 points and added six rebounds. Messman had nine points, and Kate Theisen had six points for UWRF.

Next for the UW- River Falls Falcons will be a rod test against UW- La Crosse on Wednesday February 10 at 7 p.m. UWRF defeated UW- La Crosse earlier this year 95-64 in the highest scoring game for the Falcons.