Eau Claire, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) – The UW-River Falls Women basketball team traveled to take on UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday night. The Falcons tried to erase a 7 point half time Blugold lead, but get not get all way back into the game in the second half as the Blugolds closed out a 72-60 victory.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Final Score: UW-River Falls: 60, UW-Eau Claire: 72
Location: W.L. Zorn Arena, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Record: UW-River Falls: 15-9, 6-7 WIAC, UW-Eau Claire 17-7, 9-4 WIAC.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• The Falcons began the game on an 8-0 run after a 3 point shot was drilled by Brynn Liljander.
• After a timesout, the Blugolds would get back into the game when Hallee Hoeppner hit a 3-pointer to get Eau Claire within one. Falcons lead 13-12 with 4:27 to play in the first quarter.
• The Falcons would maintain their narrow lead as a basket from Tessa Hubbard with 12 seconds to play in the quarter would put the Falcons up 2.
• Eau Claire would take their larget lead of the game up to this point when Anna Graaskamp's layup would give the Blugolds a 33-27 lead.
• Another Anna Grasskamp basket with 1 second to play in the first half would increase the Blugold lead to 7 as they carried a 41-34 lead into the break.
• Brynn Liljander would waste no time getting the Falcons back into the game as she hit from deep just 10 seconds into the third quarter.
• The Falcons would not get any closer. A layup from the Blugold's Katie Essen would extend the Blugold lead to 11 with a little over 2 minutes to play in the third quarter.
• The rest of the game would be more of the same from the Blugolds as they would keep the Falcons at arms distance winning by a final score of 72-60.

 IN-DEPTH LOOK

• Brynn Liljander was the leading scorer for the Falcons with 23 points. Liljander was 9-16 from the floor and 5-9 from beyond the arc.
• Taylor Paulsrud also added 14 points in the loss for the Falcons.
• The Falcons were 20-61 from the floor (32.8 percent) and 8-20 from 3. (40.0 percent)

 THE OPPOSITION

• Kelsey Bakken led the way for the Blugolds with 21 points. Bakken was 8-12 from the field.
• Anna Graaskamp was also able to contribute 19 points towards the Blugold victory.
• The Blugolds shot 27-61 (44.3 percent) from the floor and were 11-14 (78.6 percent) from the charity stripe.

 LOOKING AHEAD
The Falcon women head back home for their final regular season game and Senior Night against UW-Platteville. The game will tip at 3:00 PM at Page Arena on Saturday, Feb. 17.  The Falcons currently sit 15-9 overall and 6-7 in WIAC play.