Pioneers defeat Falcons on Alumni Day

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball team (10-8, 2-5 WIAC) defeated UW-River Falls (4-13, 0-7 WIAC) 63-51 Saturday afternoon on Bo Ryan Court on Alumni Day. In Saturday's win, junior Maiah Domask recorded her fourth straight double-double to bring her season total to eight.

Notes from the Pioneers

Catching up after the game, senior Morgan Horstman said, "I think it changes the game when we are hitting outside shots becasue it opens up the middle and low posts. As we saw late especially in the fourth, we had some great entries to our posts and they put the ball in the hoop."

First half

• The teams kept it a close matchup in the first quarter with all three of the game's lead changes taking place in the first five minutes of action.
• Horstman came up big and fed the Pioneers a surge of energy with a last second three-point shot to end the quarter and to give the Pioneers a 17-14 lead.
• The energy carried over and the Pioneers went on a 10-2 run to start the second quarter and pushed their lead to as much as 14 points before closing out the half with a 34-24 lead.
• Overall, UW-Platteville shot 44.4% (12-of-27) from the field and were 50.0% (4-of-8) from three point territory while the Falcons shot 43.5% (10-of-23) from the field and were 1-of-7 from three point range.

Second half

• The Pioneers returned ready to build on their second quarter lead and opened with a 11-4 run to lead 45-28 with 2:01 remaining in the quarter.
• UW-River Falls pulled within 10 points, 50-40, with 9:26 remaining in the game, but the Pioneers' 11-4 run in the middle of the fourth quarter extended the lead to 61-42 with 3:39 left in the game.
• The Pioneers comfortably closed out the remainder of the game to win 63-51 in front of a crowd of fans including over 30 alumni.
• UW-Platteville shot 48.0% (12-of-25) from the field while shooting 42.9% (3-of-7) from three point range. UW-River Falls closed the half shooting 39.3% (11-of-28) from the field and 10.0% (1-of-10) from behind the three point arc.

Notables 

• UW-Platteville improves to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in the WIAC.
• UW-River Falls dips to 4-13 overall and 0-7 in the league.
• Horstman had a team high 17 points while going 3-of-3 from three point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She also added two assists, one board, and one steal.
• Domask's eighth double-double of the season included 10 points and 11 rebounds while the Pioneer aided with four assists.
• Sophomore Allison Heckert also dished out double digits with 12 points in addition to three rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
• Overall, UW-Platteville shot 46.2% (24-of-52) from the field with 46.7% (7-of-15) from three-point territory. UW-River Falls closed the night shooting 41.2% (21-of-51) from the field and was 11.8% (2-of-17) from behind the three-point arc.
• The Pioneers finished 61.5% (8-of-13) from the free throw line while the Falcons shot 70.0% (7-of-10). 

Remarks from Coach McNiff

After the day, head coach Kelly McNiff said, "We went into the game with a focus of playing 'inside-out' which I thought the players executed fairly well.  When we can hit shots from the outside, it opens our inside game nicely.  I thought we had a healthy balance today."

Up next

The Pioneers hit the road on Wednesday, Jan. 29 for UW-Oshkosh with game time set for 7 p.m.