Women's Basketball Falls By One at UW-La Crosse, 46-45

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball dropped a nail-bitter to UW-La Crosse, 46-45, on Thursday night in Mitchell Hall at La Crosse, Wis.

Elizabeth Lawinger led UW-Platteville with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds. Alyssa Krajco netted 10 points while Kim Wellnitz added nine points. The Eagles' Briana Radowicz tallied a double-double with a game-high 19 points and 10 boards.

After scoring the first points of the game, the Pioneers fell behind 11-2 with 13:41 left in the first-half.  The Eagles took their largest lead of the game with a 12-point advantage, 18-6 with just over six and half minutes left till intermission.  The Pioneers finally found their rhythm and went on a 12-2 to trail UWL, 20-18 with just over two minutes left in the half. The Eagles would take 25-20 lead into the break by outscoring the Pioneers 15-4 off turnovers and 7-2 on second chance points.

The second-half was much closer than the first as their were six lead changes and five ties. The Eagles took the largest lead of the final half, 28-22 with 17:26 left to in the game. The Pioneers took their first lead, 33-32, since going ahead, 2-0, on a Lawinger layup with just over ten minutes to play.  

The Pioneers trailed by two, 46-44, with 12 seconds left to play. Sophomore Rilee Schmitz missed a semi-contested 15-foot jumper, but fellow sophomore Krajco grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled by the Eagles' Lexi Masiak on the potential game-tying layup with nine-tenths of a second left. After a full timeout, Krajco nailed the first free throw but was unable to put the game into overtime as UW-La Crosse took the 46-45 victory.

UW-Platteville returns to Bo Ryan Court and Williams Fieldhouse on Saturday as they square off with UW-Superior at 3 p.m.