Horstman leads Pioneers to thrilling 79-67 overtime victory against Dubuque

PLATTEVILLE -- Freshman point guard Morgan Horstman (Bangor) scored eight of her 13 points in overtime to lead the University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball team to a thrilling 79-67 come-from-behind non-conference victory over the University of Dubuque Saturday afternoon.

Freshman center Lexis Macomber (Lanark, Ill.) recorded her first college double-double with a career-high 14 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers, who snapped a four-game losing streak and in the process improved to 2-5 on the young season.

Fellow freshman center Allison Prestegaard (Amboy, Ill.) also posted her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman forward Kassie Hansen (La Crosse) grabbed 10 boards and chipped in five points in the win.

Junior guard Morgan Hartman (Rochester, Minn.) and sophomore guard Blaire Lutes (Benton) added eight points and six rebounds apiece for coach Megan Wilson's Pioneers.

Horstman buried a jumper 10 seconds into the extra session to give UW-Platteville its first lead since the 6:54 mark of the second half at 65-63. She then made the play of the game with 1:09 left in the game when she blocked Emily Brinker's post-up jump shot, grabbed the rebound and drew a foul on a frustrated Brinker.

Horstman went to the free throw line and drained both bonus tosses to give UW-Platteville a 71-66 lead, then made two more from the charity stripe with 49 seconds. She added a steal and a transition layup seconds later to make it an eight-point game at 75-67. Horstman finished the game with nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Sophomore Abbey Meyer made 10 of 17 from the free throw line to finish with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and four assists to lead the Spartans, who fell to 2-4 with the loss.

Brinker recorded the third double-double of the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds for UD, which held a 31-22 lead at the half.

The Pioneers opened the third quarter on a 15-3 tear to build a 37-32 lead 5:35 into the third quarter. But Dubuque closed the period on an 8-2 run of its own to regain a three-point lead at 51-48.

Allison Biermeier's layup 30 seconds into the fourth quarter extended the visitors' lead to 53-48.

UW-Platteville pulled even at 53-53 on a Lutes three-pointer with 7:35 left, but the Spartans pulled ahead again leading by as many as six points with 2:51 to play on a Meyer jump shot that made it 63-57.

Macomber scored in the paint, then added a pair of free throws to trim the UWP deficit to two with 1:28 left.

Freshman Kassie Buchholz (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) tied the game at 63-63 with a layup with 51 seconds left.

After Binker missed a shot in the lane with 25 seconds to play, the Pioneers missed a potential game-winning three-pointer with four seconds left and had another shot blocked just two seconds later.

UD had one last chance to steal the win in regulation, but Brinker's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer came up short, sending the game to overtime.

UW-Platteville established new school records with 75 total rebounds and 45 defensive rebounds while holding the Spartans to just 29 percent shooting (22-for-76). The 75 total rebounds beats the previous record of 70 set against Cornell College on Feb. 2, 1991. The 45 defensive boards is one better than the old record set against Highland College on Feb. 13, 1979.

The Pioneers also grabbed 30 offensive rebounds to offset a 28.3 percent shooting night from the field (26-for-92). UW-Platteville held a 75-51 advantage in rebounds.

The Pioneers will return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Williams Fieldhouse when they welcome Elmhust College (4-4). The Bluejays suffered a 73-69 loss to Loras College on Saturday.