Macomber scores 13 points in season finale loss at UW–River Falls

RIVER FALLS — The UW–Platteville women's basketball team close out the season with an 81–60 loss at UW–River Falls Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore forward Lexis Macomber (Lanark, Ill.) scored 13 points off the bench to lead the Pioneers, who finished the season 7–18 overall and 2–12 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. She was 7 of 9 from the free throw line and also grabbed six rebounds.

Junior guard Blaire Lutes (Shullsburg) scored nine of her 10 points on three 3-pointers, and also had two rebounds for the visitors.

Junior forward Taylor Karge scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Falcons and surpass the 1,000-point mark for her career. Karge also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

UW–Platteville struggled from the floor for most of the game, shooting 16 of 68 (23.5 percent) from the floor. The Pioneers did shoot 20 of 28 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe, and made eight three pointers.

Karge scored the first six points for UW–River Falls, as the Falcons raced out to a 13–3 lead in the first four minutes. The Falcons (8–17, 3–11) scored a season-high 28 points in the opening quarter and lead 28–15 at the end of 10 minutes of play.

The Pioneers trimmed the 13-point deficit to just three with 5:10 left in the second quarter with a 9–0 run that was fueled by seven free throws.

UWRF closed the half on an 8–0, then opened the third quarter on a 10–2 burst to push the lead to 21 points at 56–35.  The Falcons pushed their lead to as many as 31 points early in the fourth quarter.

Senior Morgan Hartman (Rochester, Minn.) scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds in her final game for the Pioneers. Sophomore Morgan Horstman (Bangor) added seven points, two assists and two steals.

Hartman is the lone senior Coach Megan Wilson's Pioneers will lose from this year's team. Looking forward to next year, Wilson will return four starters in Horstman, and fellow sophomores Kassie Buchholz (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), Allison Prestegaard (Amboy, Ill.) and Kassie Hansen (La Crosse), as well as top reserves Macomber and Lutes, sophomores Cassie Hamer (Platteville), Abby Luedtke (Larsen/Winneconne) and freshman Rachel Emendorfer (Platteville).

By Jason Nihles, UW–Platteville Athletics