River Falls, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) – The UW-River Falls Women basketball team hosted UW-Platteville on Saturday afternoon at Don Page Arena. The Falcons jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they rolled to a double-digit victory in their last regular season game of the year over the Pioneers 75-61, on senior night. The Falcons celebrated their three seniors, Brynn Liljander, Hayley Rau, and Taylor Karge after the game.

THE RUNDOWN
Final Score: UW-River Falls: 75, UW-Platteville: 61
Location: Don Page Arena, River Falls, Wisconsin
Record: UW-River Falls: 16-9, 7-7 WIAC, UW-Platteville 6-19, 2-12 WIAC.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• The first quarter saw the teams trading big runs. The Falcons started the game on a 16-6 run. Brynn Liljander and Taylor Karge accounted for 10 of the first 16 points with freshman Brianna Koop coming off the bench to add 4 points to give the Falcons a 16-6 lead with 3:16 left in the first quarter.
• The Pioneers would answer the Falcon run with one of their own. The Pioneers would end the quarter on a 15-3 run and take a 2-point lead at 21-19 at the end of the first quarter. Jai Clemons highlighted the run with 6 points and a steal.
• The Falcons doubled up on the Pioneers outscoring them 26-12 in the 2nd quarter. The Falcons started the second quarter on a 13-2 run highlighted with 5 points from Crystal Pearson, 4 points by Brianna Koop and Brynn Liljander added a layup, steal and an assist. Liljander's layup put the Falcons up 9 at 32-23 with 6:35 left in the quarter.
• Over the next 4 minutes of the quarter the Falcons would go on a 13-4 run to get to their biggest lead of the contest at 45-27 after a pair of Crystal Pearson free throws with just under 3 minutes remaining in the quarter.
• The Pioneers went on a little run of their own scoring the last 6 points of quarter to cut the Falcon half time lead to 12 at 45-33.
• The third quarter saw both teams exchanging buckets early as the Falcons increased their lead to 16 points with just over 6 minutes left in the quarter after a Liljander layup made it 51-35.
• The Pioneers tried to get back into striking distance trimming a few points off the Falcon lead, but a 3-pointer by Anna Rollag pushed the Falcon lead to 17 at 62-45 with just under 2 minutes left in the quarter.
• The Pioneers would cut the Falcon lead to 14 after a couple of free throws at the end of the quarter.
• The fourth quarter opened with the Falcons up 62-48.
• The two teams would trade baskets early and the Falcons kept their double-digit lead and were up 13 after a layup by Brianna Koop with just under 6 minutes to play in the game.
• The Pioneers finally got the Falcon lead down to 9, with just under 5 minutes to play when Amber Williams made a layup in the paint.
• That is as close as the Pioneers would get as the Falcons ended the game on a 9-4 run and came away with the decisive 75-61 victory.

 IN-DEPTH LOOK

• Brianna Koop led the Falcons with 19 points off the bench. Koop was an impressive 13-16 from the free throw line.
• Taylor Karge and Brynn Liljander both had good senior night's with Karge adding 17 points and Liljander adding 16 points.
• The Falcons shot an impressive 22-27 from the free throw line for 81.5% and 24 of 65 from the field for 36.9%.

 THE OPPOSITION

• Kassie Hansen led the way for the Pioneers with 15 points, shooting 6 of 9 from the field.
• Jai Clemons added 10 points for the Pioneers.
• The Pioneers shot 16-25 from the free throw line and 21 of 64 from the field for 32.8%.

 LOOKING AHEAD
The UW-River Falls women's basketball team will enter the WIAC tournament with a game on the road on Tuesday night. The game will start at 7pm, but the opponent and location are still TBD.