RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The UW-River Falls Women's Basketball team snagged an exhilarating overtime win at Page Arena against UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday, February 5, winning by a score of 66-61.
The team was helped by a monster game from junior guard Zoey Buchan, who scored a career-high 27 points, with seven of those coming in the overtime period. Buchan shot an efficient 80% from the three-point arc with four makes on the night.
The Falcons led for a majority of the game before a Pointers layup with 21.4 seconds left sent the game to overtime. The Falcons outscored the Pointers 12-7 in the overtime period to secure the victory. The win brings UW-River Falls to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in WIAC play. The win also evens the season series against UW-Stevens Point, 1-1, following a 53-58 loss to the Pointers in mid-January.
The Falcons started the game off hot. Junior forward Olivia Hoerl began the game on fire, contributing eight points in the first two minutes, and finished the first quarter with 13 points on 5-5 shooting. The Falcons took a commanding 22-8 lead into the 2nd quarter, holding the Pointers to 0-6 shooting from beyond the arc in the quarter.
The second quarter was a turn of tides for both teams as the Pointers quickly erased their deficit. They started the quarter on a 9-0 run before Zoey Buchan responded with a three-pointer to make the score 25-17 three minutes in. After two more Pointer layups, neither team made a field goal for nearly four minutes, until Karissa Smith of the Pointers made a three-pointer with 2:30 remaining in the quarter to even the score at 26-26. A quick jumpshot by Olivia Hoerl extended the lead by two to give the Falcons a 28-26 lead at the half. A strong defensive performance by Gabby Gawlitta, who totaled two steals in the quarter and five in the game, helped the Pointers outscore the Falcons 18-6 in the period.
Three consecutive made three-pointers allowed the Falcons a 39-32 lead early in the third. This quarter also saw a flurry of Pointer fouls, allowing the Falcons to reach the bonus early in the period. The Pointers bounced back with a 6-0 run, giving them their first lead of the night at 40-39 with 3:30 left in the quarter. A Zoey Buchan and-one response quickly relinquished this short lead; she totaled eight points in the quarter. The lead continued to flicker, but it was the Pointers who took a 45-44 lead going into the fourth.
The Pointers led by as much as five early in the fourth, but two made free throws by Olivia Miron evened things up at 52-52 with 5:14 left. From this point forward, each team only made one basket each, with an Olivia Hoerl layup making it 54-52 and a Gabby Gawlitta layup at 21.4 remaining, inevitably sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, it was Zoey Buchan who scored seven points in the period, and some clutch plays by Olivia Miron that secured the game for the Falcons. Buchan made a layup with 1:30 remaining and a three-pointer off of a gritty Miron assist with 54.7 left to make it 64-58. The Pointers responded with a three-pointer to make it 64-61 with 41.5 left, but good clock management and two clutch free-throws by Karleigh Creasey sealed the victory.
The Falcons shot 22-58 (37.9%) and 8-17 (47.1%) from three, as well as 14-18 (77.8%) from the free-throw line. The duo of Zoey Buchan and Olivia Hoerl combined for 46 points on the night, highlighted by both players having their own scoring flurries throughout the contest. Mari Ryberg contributed a career-high six rebounds in the game.
Next up, the Falcons will head to UW-Oshkosh this Saturday to face off with the Titans at 3 p.m. on Feb. 8. UW-Oshkosh entered the week ranked in the top-10 in both the WBCA and D3hoops.com top-25 polls.
