Pioneers ousted in WIAC playoffs
February 20, 2006
A slow start led to a quick exit in the conference playoffs for UW-Platteville Monday.
Host UW-Oshkosh bolted out to a 35-9 lead and went on to beat the Pioneers 83-54 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season tournament first round.
The second-seeded Titans advance to host a semifinal game Wednesday, while the seventh-seeded Pioneers end their season at 10-15.
The two teams split two close regular -season matchups, with the Pioneers winning 50-49 on Jan. 3, and the Titans taking a 61-58 overtime victory Saturday.
The Titans made sure the rubber match would not be close, making a 20-2 run midway through the first half for the 35-9 lead. UW-Oshkosh led 40-21 at the half, and the Pioneers came no closer than 18 during the second half. The Titans shot better than 53 percent in each period.
Four players scored in double figures for the Titans (19-7). Whitney Tyriver scored 16 points, Kelly O'Keef 15, Brittany Herrick 11 and Shannon Eggers 10.
Holly Kaiser and Liz Tesch led the Pioneers with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Kaiser moved into 10th place all-time in Pioneer scoring history with 947 points, surpassing Donna Freitag. Michelle Hardyman added 11 points.
The contest marked the end of an outstanding senior student-athlete class for UW-Platteville. The six seniors, whose cumulative 3.7 grade-point average earned mention in this week's D3hoops.com "Around the Nation" column, are Hardyman, Kaiser, Emily Adrian, Rachel Korth, Abby Lalko, and Jill Rajek.
The Pioneers began the season by playing the Wisconsin Badgers in an exhibition game and along the course of the year beat both WIAC co-champions, UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh.
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