Box Score Two days ago UW-Whitewater set school and WIAC tournament three point shooting records.  Thursday the Warhawks were the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" (kudos Jimmy Breslin), shooting a season low 27% from the field -- but the Warhawks forced 28 UW-Eau Claire turnovers in a 57-53 Whitewater win in at Zorn Arena in Eau Claire to advance to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.  UW-W, 22-5, will travel to UW-Stevens Point, 22-4, for 3:00 tipoff in Berg Gym.  Point defeated UW-River Falls 70-60 in the other semifinal Thursday.

Eau Claire went inside early and often.  The Blugolds led 12-5 at 15:56, and senior forward Callie Halama and senior center Ellen Plendl accounted for all twelve.  Halama had nine of those.  Senior guard Nicole Christianson hit a three-pointer at 13:44 for the first points by the EC backcourt, putting the Blugolds up 17-7.  Eau Claire added another bucket at 12:42 for a 19-7 margin, their largest lead of the first half.  UW-EC was 7-9 from the field, Whitewater 2-14.  UW-W followed with a 7-0 burst to narrow the gap to 19-14 on two Emily Bestor (North Fond du Lac/Horace Mann) free throws with 8:20 left.  The Warhawks reached that five point deficit twice more in the half, 25-20 on a Cortney Kumerow (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin) basket, and as the clock wound down Chantel Burg (Hartford/Hartford Union) grabbed a rebound, drove the length of the court, hit a scoop layup and drew the foul, then hit the free throw, to make the score 28-23 into intermission.

Fortunately, while UW-W was shooting 24% in the first half, Eau Claire wasn't shooting lights out, at 43% from the floor.  Whitewater went 2-11 on three point shots, EC 1-8.  The Blugolds used a 24-19 rebound advantage to outscore the Warhawks 14-6 in the paint, but UW-W countered with just four turnovers to 13 for Eau Claire, giving Whitewater 13 points off turnovers to none for UW-EC.  Halama scored 15 points, and Plendl grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots in the first twenty minutes.  Burg led UW-W with nine points and three steals.

Chantel Burg (Hartford/Hartford Union)'s three-pointer at 18:37 pulled UW-W within two, 28-26, but Eau Claire recovered and built their margin back to eight, 41-33 on Plendl's free throw.  Jamie Swanson (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community)'s three brought Whitewater back to two behind, 45-43 at 7:56.  Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) drove the lane and tied the game at 7:19 for the first time.  Eau Claire scored the next six points to lead 51-45 at 5:12.  With 2:24 on the clock, Merg stepped to the line and hit two free throws, giving the Warhawks their first lead of the game, 52-51.  Halama gave EC a 53-52 lead with her bucket at 1:53, but Merg buried a three pointer with 1:07 for a 55-53 Whitewater lead.  UW-W coach Keri Carollo immediately called a timeout.  Bestor ended the EC possession with a steal, and Whitewater missed two shots on its end of the floor, but burned off twenty-five seconds.  The Blugolds gained possession with 0:20 left, and called timeout with 0:12 left.  Whitewater's Cortney Kumerow (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin) came up with a steal with six seconds left, and went to the line and hit two free throws for the final margin.

Eau Claire led the rebound battle 43-33 to outscore Whitewater 26-16 in "points in the paint".  Whitewater commited 11 turnovers to the 27 for UW-EC, with the Warhawks scoring 31 points off turnovers to five for the Blugolds.

The importance of Thursday's win extends beyond the WIAC Tournament.  With four WIAC teams bunched at the top of the league's final standings, and all four in the national Division III poll, teams may find it hard to not to devote at least a fleeting thought to the NCAA III tournament bids that will be announced Monday.


For additional information:  Keri Carollo, UW-W coach