Pioneers Go Cold Late

The University of Wisconsin - Platteville women's basketball team found themselves in a scoring drought at the worst possible time Wednesday night.  In a back-and-forth contest with WIAC rival UW-Stevens Point that saw 19 lead changes and 16 ties, the Pioneers went without points in the 4th quarter from the 4:24 mark to the 1:50 point.  During that stretch Platteville saw a two-point lead turn into a six-point deficit as the Pointers went 6-8 from the free throw line in the final :30 to preserve a 74-69 victory on Bo Ryan Court.

Caitlyn Tipton (Sr. Rosendale, WI) led the Pioneers (1-2) with 17 points.  Maiah Domask (Sr. / Waupun, Wis.) combined 13 points with 13 rebounds.

Early on in the game, it was UW-Stevens Point (1-2) who struggled finding the bottom of the net.  The Pointers went scoreless for the first 4:57 of the game.  Platteville took advantage, getting out to a quick lead and finishing the first quarter up, 17-14.  

From the 2nd quarter until midway through the fourth, the teams would trade seemingly endless runs.  Platteville began the 2nd on a quick 5-2 run to go up six.  Stevens Point then went on a 12-2 run to go up four.  Less than a couple minutes later, the two teams were back to being knotted, 32-32.  Down two at the half, the Pointers began the 3rd quarter on a quick 7-0 run only to see the hosts respond with a 6-0 run of their own to re-take the lead, 40-39.  For the whole night, neither team would be able to gain an advantage of more than six points.

The game still looked like it would go down to the wire at the media timeout in the 4th quarter with the score again tied at 56-56 with 4:59 remaining.  Out of that timeout, Tipton hit 1-2 free throws to give Platteville the lead.  On the ensuing possession, Pointer forward Kellan Schmidt knocked down a tough mid-range jumper to put Point back on top.  The Pioneers answered immediately when Aspyn Stewart (Jr. / Stockton, Ill.) connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing to put her squad up 60-58.  

Unfortunately for Platteville, that is when their scoring drought would begin coinciding with a Pointers' stretch of scoring on 5 of their next 6 possessions.  Down 66-60 with 1:50 left to go, the Pioneers could only get as close as 3 the rest of the way.

Pointer Taylor Greenheck led her team with 14 points, including 5-6 from the free throw line late.  Joining Tipton and Domask in double-figures for the Pioneers was Allison Heckert (Jr. / Whitewater, Wis.) who scored 10 (2-4 3pt FG).

"Until we learn to play harder and smarter on the defensive end, we will struggle in these high scoring games," said Pioneers' head coach Kelly McNiff, "we show flashes, but right now are just too inconsistent.  We will work on adjustments in practice tomorrow in hopes of executing better on both ends of the floor in Friday's game."

The two teams will face each other again on Friday, February 12th at 7p in Quandt Gymnasium at Stevens Point.