Prestegaard, Horstman lead Pioneer women to improbable victory

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Typically, losing your only senior to an injury, committing 32 turnovers and giving up 25 offensive rebounds is not an ideal recipe for victory. But the University of Wisconsin–Platteville women's basketball team's 62–61 victory over visiting UW­­–River Falls Saturday afternoon was anything but typical.

After committing 22 first-half turnovers and 30 giveaways through three quarters of play against the Falcons' aggressive full-court press, coach Megan Wilson's finally solved the riddle in the final 10 minutes.

The Pioneers outscored the Falcons 23–19 in the final period, most of it without senior captain Morgan Hartman (Rochester, Minn.), who left with an ankle injury with 7:10 left in the game, to rally for a gritty one-point conference win.

UW–Platteville (5–8, 1–1 WIAC) stayed in the game, but holding River Falls to 28 percent shooting in the game (23 of 82) and just 25.6 percent (10 of 39) in the second half.

Sophomore center Allison Prestegaard (Amboy, Ill.) led the charge with a near triple–double performance of 18 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks. The 15 boards were a career-high and the 18 points and the seven blocks were both the second highest outputs in her young Pioneer career.

Sophomore guard Morgan Horstman (Bangor) added 16 points, six assists and three rebounds, and made three clutch free throws in the final 19 seconds to close out the win.

Taylor Karge scored a game-high 23 points to lead UW–River Falls, but shot just 9 of 27 in the loss.

The Pioneers led late in the opening quarter at 12–10 and 14–12, but Karge scored back-to-back layups and the Falcons outscored UW–Platteville 6–0 in the final two minutes of the period to take an 18–14 lead.

UW–River Falls pushed its lead to 10 at 31–21 late in the second quarter on a Kate Theisen 3-pointer and led 33–24 at the half. Hannah Pignato scored the first basket of the second half to give the Falcons the biggest lead of the game at 11 points.

Prestegaard scored the final four points of the third quarter – all on free throws – to ignite an 11–0 Pioneer run and close the gap to three points at 42–39. Prestegaard then hit a jumper in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and Hartman buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key on an assist by Horstman to give the Pioneers their a 44–42 lead, their first since the opening quarter, with 8:17 left.

After a Hartman steal on the ensuing possession, sophomore Kassie Buchholz (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) fed Prestegaard for another basket in the lane and a 46–42 lead, but Hartman rolled her ankle battling for position under the hoop on the play and never returned to the game.

UW–River Falls pulled within a point at 46–45 on a Karge basket with 6:27 left, but a Horstman 3-point play and a 3-pointer by sophomore Abby Luedtke (Winneconne) gave the Pioneers their biggest lead of the game at 52–45 with 5:39 to play.

The Falcons twice cut the lead to a single point in the final minute first at 57–56 on a Pignato free throw, and then again at 59–58 on a Karge jumper with 25 seconds left.

Horstman split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds to play, then after a River Falls turnover made two more to put the game out of reach with seven seconds to play. Karge hit a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer to account for the final score.

Sophomore Blaire Lutes (Shullsburg) finished with eight points, three rebounds and two assists in the win. Lexis Macomber (Lanark, Ill.) added seven points, five boards and two blocks off the bench.

UW–Platteville will return to action Wednesday with a WIAC road game at UW–Oshkosh. The 13th-ranked Titans improved to 12–1 on the season and 2–0 in the WIAC with a 64–58 win at UW–Stout Saturday afternoon.  

By Jason Nihles, UW–Platteville Athletics