UW-Whitewater, ranked third in Division III, escaped Mitchell Hall at UW-La Crosse with a 99-87 overtime victory.
Box Score
Whitewater led at the half 54-41. The Warhawks led 74-62 at 8:06, but the Eagles rattled off fourteen straight points to take a 76-74 at 3:52. UW-W's Lindsey Buechner (Cross Plains/Middleton) tied the game at 82-82 with two free throws with 1:10 left, and that ended the scoring in regulation. Whitewater won the game at the line in OT, hitting 11 of its 17 points in the extra session from the line.
Senior center Lindsey Buechner (Cross Plains/Middleton) scored a season-high 24 points, passing DeAnne Lehman (1984-88, 1,050) to move into fifth place on UW-Whitewater's career scoring list with 1,064 points. Nineteen of Buechner's points came in the first half. Sophomore guard Kelsey Hendrickson (Monroe/Monroe) scored 20 points, including 7 of Whitewater's 17 in the overtime period. Sophomore center Tiffany Morton (Beloit/Memorial) also scored 20, and for the first time this season UW-W has had three 20+ point scorers in a game. Sophomore guard Heidi Sonntag (Milwaukee/Wisconsin Lutheran) had her season-high seven assists, and Buechner added eight rebounds and four steals to her game. Morton was the game's leading rebounder with nine.
UW-L junior guard Mackenzie Hunter led both teams with 28 points, going 11-16 from the field and 6-6 from the line. Junior center Lindsay Wahl contributed 19 points, senior forward Mandy Stevens 15, and freshman forward Dana Churchill 14. Wahl also dished out four assists, and Churchill added three steals.
The team stats were as even as the final score would indicate. Whitewater shot 52% from the field, La Crosse 49%. Whitewater had 37 rebounds, La Crosse 36. Both teams had 24 turnovers. Whitewater made four three point shots, La Crosse three. The difference, with Hendrickson contributing much of it, was that Whitewater went 11-12 from the line in overtime.
UW-W is 18-1 overall and 8-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-La Crosse is 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the WIAC.
UW-Whitewater will host UW-Eau Claire Saturday, February 2, at 3:00 p.m. in Kachel Gym at Williams Center in the battle for first place. The February 2 game is also part of UW-W's celebration of National Girls and Women in Sport Day, with the Warhawk team autographing their poster after the game in the upper lobby of Williams Center. There are numerous special events in the Williams Center Saturday surrounding the women's game, men's basketball, women's gymnastics, and several presentations and autograph sessions.
For additional information: UW-W coach, Keri Carollo, 262-472-5782
