Platteville, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) – Despite forcing the most turnovers since 2010, the UW-River Falls women's basketball team was unable to win their first conference game of the season against UW-Platteville losing by a score of 62-61.

THE RUNDOWN
Final Score: UW-River Falls: 61, UW-Platteville 62
Location: Bo Ryan Court, Platteville, Wisconsin
Record: UWRF: 5-8 (0-2 WIAC), UW-Platteville 5-8 (1-1 WIAC)
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• Down the stretch, the Falcons missed key free throws, and despite a Taylor Karge three pointer as time expired, the Falcons were unable to make a frantic comeback late in the fourth quarter.
• The first quarter was back and forth the entire way with the lead changing seven times in the first 10 minutes. UWRF ended the quarter up 18-14.
• The Falcon defense swarmed the Pioneers the entire first half, and UWRF extended their lead to six points early in the second quarter.
• Platteville kept River Falls in their sights with timely baskets, but UWRF finally extended their lead to double digits with a three pointer by Kate Theisen, her first of the season. The Falcons led by nine at the halftime buzzer.
• The Falcons grew their lead to the largest of the game with the first basket of the second half to lead by 11, but the Pioneers continued to hang around, down single digits for the rest of the third quarter, and cutting the lead to just three heading into the fourth quarter.
• Momentum on their side, UW-Platteville scored the first seven points of the first quarter, and their lead was up to four points.
• With the lead down to just one with 6:27 to go, UW-Platteville scored six quick points with an and-one and a three pointer to lead by seven with 5:39 to go.
• UWRF came within one point three more times in the final minutes, but could not muster enough offense to take back the lead before the final buzzer.      

 
IN-DEPTH LOOK

• Karge led all scorers with 23 points. She added four rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals.
• The 32 turnovers forced by the Falcons was the most since December 30, 2010 when the Falcons forced 36 turnovers against St. Scholastica.
• Taylor Paulsrud had nine points on the night, she also had a game-high seven steals in the game.
• Theisen each had nine points, and Katie Messman and Hannah Pignato rounded off the starting five with seven points each.
• Offensively, the Falcons struggled shooting 23-82 (28 percent) from the floor. The team shot 4-16 (25 percent) from three, and 11-18 (61.1 percent) from the charity stripe.

THE OPPOSITION

• The Pioneers had a huge performance by 6 feet 4 inch tall Allison Prestegaard. She scored 18 points on 7-11 shooting and had 15 rebounds and seven blocks with zero turnovers.
• Morgan Horstman scored 16 on 5-13 shooting to help the Pioneer offense. Blaire Lutes scored eight off the bench.
• As a team, UW-Platteville shot 22-56 (39.3 percent) from the floor, and connected on six threes.

 
LOOKING AHEAD
The UW-River Falls women's basketball team will now return home to face a tough UW-Whitewater team (12-1, 2-0 WIAC). The game is set to tip at Karges Center at 7 p.m. on January 11^th.