The UW-Whitewater women's basketball team kicked off the 2010-11 season with a 60-54 win over Calvin College in the Wisconsin Lutheran College Tournament in Milwaukee Friday night.

Box Score

Whitewater trailed the entire first half. The Warhawks kept the game close, within four points, until a 13-13 tie with 10:50 left in the half. Calvin put together an 11-0 run including eight points from sophomore forward Carissa Verkaik to take the lead 24-13. The Knights used a three pointer by junior guard Courtney Kurncz to extend the lead to 15, the largest of the game, 34-19, with 0:54 left in the half.

The Warhawks opened the second half on a 5-0 run to cut Calvin's lead to eight. UW-W posted another 8-0 run starting at 16:21 included four points from sophomore forward Courtney Kumerow and brought the Warhawks to within one with 14:25 left to play. A Knight foul stopped the clock at 9:53 and Warhawk freshman guard Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale) drained both free throws to tie the score 43-43. Kumerow's layup off an offensive rebound at 6:11 gave Whitewater its first lead of the game 48-47. The teams traded the lead for the next 4:25. A three pointer from junior guard Emily Bestor (North Fond du Lac/Horace Mann) put Whitewater up one, 55-54. The Warhawks never looked back stringing together five more in the last 57 seconds.

Whitewater had a major advantage from the free throw line, dropping in 23 out of 30 tries. Calvin shot 80% from the line but recorded just 15 attempts. The Warhawks shot 38% from the floor to Calvin's 33%

Senior forward Dana Thompson (Belleville/Belleville) started the season with a double double, leading all scorers with 28 points, including a 10-14 performance from the line and 9-13 from the floor, grabbing 11 rebounds. Seven more Warhawks contributed to the scoring in the contest. Calvin's Verkaik also posted a double double in the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

UW-W, in the others receiving votes category in the D3hoops.com national poll, will face the winner of Heidelberg and Wisconsin Lutheran Saturday, November 20 at 3:00 pm in Milwaukee, WI to finish play in the Wisconsin Lutheran College Tournament.

For additional information: Keri Carollo, UW-W coach