UW-Whitewater clilnched its first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since 1986 with an 82-38 win over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon in Kachel Gym of Williams Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The Warhawks will host UW-Platteville Tuesday at 7:00 in Kachel Gym in a WIAC Tournament first round game. UW-W students will get free admission, compliments of DLK Enterprises, to the WIAC Tournament semifinal (Wednesday men, Thursday women) and final (Saturday) games, men and women, by showing their ID at the door.
Box score
Link to Twice As Nice
Both teams started slowly, with just six points total, scored in the first three minutes and ten in the first four minutes. Whitewater never trailed and reached a double digit margin, 13-2 at 13:26. River Falls did not score its fourth point of the first half until 11:54 on a jumper by freshman forward Sarah Schoeneck, by which time it was UW-W 17-4. The Whitewater defense limited the Falcons to just seven points in the first ten minutes. The Falcons had it down to eight points twice later in the half, but Whitewater had it back to 44-24 at intermission. UW-W junior center Tiffany Morton (Beloit/Memorial) had a double double in the first half, with 18 points and ten rebounds.
UW-W, the top scoring team in the WIAC and fourth in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III statistics, rolled the lead to as many as 48 in the second half. The Warhawks have scored 80+ points seventeen times this season.
Morton ended up with a season high 25 points, sophomore guard Heidi Sonntag (Milwaukee/Wisconsin Lutheran) added 17 and senior guard Trisha Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) scored 12 as eleven Warhawks scored in the contest. Morton ended with 13 rebounds, and sophomore guard Sarah Moran (Waukesha/South) dished out five assists. River Falls was led in scoring by Kelli Hilt, a sophomore guard, scored 17, and senior forward Caitlin Hunstock grabbed nine boards for UW-RF.
The Falcons shot 26% for the game, and just 3-11 from the line. Whitewater shot 44% from the floor and made 18-23 free throws.
Whitewater, 23-2 overall, share the WIAC title with UW-Eau Claire. The Blugolds earned the numbger one seed on a coin flip after several other tie-breakers could not determine the top seed. UW-RF ends the regular season 8-17 overall, 2-14 in the WIAC. The winner of the WIAC Tournament earns the league's automatic berth in the NCAA III championship tournament.
Admission for a WIAC events are $2 for students with ID, $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens.
