PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — The UW-River Falls Women's Basketball team was victorious at UW-Platteville, 72-61, on the road on Saturday, January 18.
Zoey Buchan led the charge for UWRF, finishing with 20 points off 66.6% shooting from the field. The Falcons tallied a high efficiency at the free-throw line in the win, shooting 26-28 as a team (92.9%) — the 26 free-throws is the most made in a game by UWRF since the 2013-14 season. The win improved the Falcons' record to 10-6 overall and 2-3 in WIAC competition.
Both teams started the game off with a high-scoring first quarter, as UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville ended the first frame knotted at 21-21. The Pioneers led 19-14 with 3:25 to go, but the Falcons ended the quarter on a 7-2 run to tie up the game after one. UWRF shot 9-14 (64.3%) from the field in the opening period.
Both teams cooled off offensively in the second quarter, as UWRF narrowly out-scored UW-Platteville 11-10. The Falcons went into halftime leading 32-31, behind a balanced scoring effort. Zoey Buchan (7), Olivia Miron (6), Olivia Hoerl (6), Mari Ryberg (5), and Karleigh Creasey (5) led the scoring effort in the first half.
The third quarter gave the Falcons a slight upper hand, before UWRF ran away with the game in the final frame. UWRF led by as much as seven points in the third quarter, before heading into the fourth quarter leading 50-46.
UW-River Falls put the game away with a 22-15 advantage in the fourth quarter, which saw the Falcons build their lead to a steady double-digit advantage.
Zoey Buchan led the way offensively with 20 points off 6-9 shooting from the field, her third 20-point performance and 11th double-digit scoring effort of the season. Olivia Hoerl scored 18 points, shooting an efficient 10-11 from the free-throw line. Buchan added to the team free-throw success, going a perfect 7-7 at the line.
The Falcons built up a 34-24 advantage in team rebounding, behind a well-rounded effort — Olivia Miron and Paige Pearson led the team with five boards each, while Buchan, Hoerl, Ryberg, Creasey, and Annamarie Aue each added four rebounds a piece. Creasey totaled three steals, a season-high.
As a team, UWRF finished 21-51 (41.2%) from the field and 4-13 (30.8%) from three-point range. The Falcons took advantage of 30 points in the paint, while converting an excellent 26-28 (92.9%) clip at the free-throw line. The 26 free-throws as a team is the most in a game since the Falcons made 26 against St. Scholastica during the 2013-14 season. The previous team high mark came during the 2012-13 season, when UWRF converted 31 free-throw attempts against UW-Stout.
Up next, UWRF will return to Page Arena for a pair of home games next week. The Falcons will host UW-La Crosse on Jan. 22 and UW-Oshkosh on Jan. 25.
