Pioneers Take Down Blue Devils Saturday

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball team (10-7, 3-3) defeated the UW-Stout Blue Devils (11-6, 1-5) 87-71 Saturday afternoon in Williams Fieldhouse.

The Pioneers pulled ahead early and dominated the game for much day with UW-Platteville averaging 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the field, a team high last achieved in 2021. UW-Platteville had four players reach double digits and the team shot 50 percent or better in three of the four quarters, including 77.8 percent (7-of-9) in the fourth.

The Blue Devils led for much of the first quarter until a three-pointer by Ashley Weir at the 3:27 mark gave the Pioneers a 15-13 lead. Sophomore Ella Mackiewicz scored the last five points of the quarter to give UW-Platteville a 24-19 advantage at the quarter break. Junior Briana Prieve drained a three-pointer to finish an 11-2 run by the Pioneers, giving the team a 41-28 lead with three minutes to go in the half. Senior Sarah Mueller's layup and one free-throw concluded the half and extended the Pioneers' lead to 15 at intermission.

The Pioneers pulled ahead to as high as 19 in the third quarter and a three-pointer by junior Brynlee Nelson from Mueller increased the lead to 74-52 with 7:46 left in the game. Sophomore Allison Wokatsch joined the fun from beyond the arc and became the final of six different Pioneers to hit a three-pointer in the game, giving UW-Platteville it's largest lead of the day at 24 points with 5:46 remaining.

Mueller (18), Mackiewicz (17), sophomore Madalyn Reichmann (14) and Nelson (12) all scored double figures. Mackiewicz added a team-high six rebounds and junior Barb Kling paced the Pioneers with four assists.  As a team, the Pioneers finished 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from three-point territory and made 20-of-25 (80 percent) free throws.

UW-Stout shot 43.1 percent (28-of-65) and 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from beyond the arc. Amanda Giesen finished with a game-high 23 points and Anna Mutch pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

The Pioneers will return to action on Wednesday, January 24 when the team travels to UW-Stevens Point for a 7 p.m. game.

*As with every UW-Platteville win this year, the Platteville A&W will be offering a $3 Pioneer burger the day after the win and the Platteville Taco John's will be offering 10 tacos for $10 the day after each Pioneer win.