The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team extended its winning streak to nine games Wednesday night with a 63-52 triumph at UW-Platteville in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference affair in Platteville, Wis.
 
With the win and UW-La Crosse's loss at UW-Oshkosh, the Warhawks (16-8 overall, 10-3 WIAC) clinched a top two seed and a bye to the semifinals in next week's WIAC Championship (Presented by Culver's).
 
Senior forward Olivia Freckmann (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) collected her 10th double-double of the season with an 18-point, 10-rebound, three-block effort. Sophomore guard Emily Schumacher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha South) posted 18 points and four rebounds, and junior guard Becky Raeder (Sheboygan Falls, Wis./Sheboygan Falls) totaled eight points, three rebounds and four assists.
 
UW-Whitewater shot 46.9 percent from the field and held the Pioneers (10-14, 4-9) to 38.5 percent from the floor. The Warhawks also out-rebounded UW-Platteville by a 32-21 margin and created eight second-chance points.
 
Neither team led by more than four points in a tightly-contested first quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Raeder and Schumacher made it 15-11 with 51 seconds to go, and UW-Whitewater rode the momentum early in the second quarter to take a 22-15 advantage at the 7:52 mark of the second.
 
The Pioneers quickly responded to tie the game at 22-22 just over one minute later, but the Warhawks closed the quarter on an 8-1 run, including six from Schumacher, to take a 30-23 halftime lead.
 
UW-Whitewater extended its lead to double digits midway through the third after a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Megan Corcoran (Madison, Wis./LaFollette). Schumacher gave the team its largest lead of the game at 42-31 with 4:24 left on a 3-pointer, and the team equaled that advantage at the 1:55 mark on a jumper by Freckmann.
 
The Warhawks' eight-point lead heading into the fourth was cut to three by UW-Platteville with 9:10 on the clock. Freckmann and senior center Sarah Schumacher (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) converted buckets to make it 52-45 by the 5:20 mark.
 
The Pioneers made another run to close to within 52-50 with 3:49 remaining, but senior forward Becky Deichl (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) and junior guard Camri Conley (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) hit jumpers for a 56-50 UW-W lead with 2:20 left.
 
The Warhawks closed on a 7-0 run to put the contest out of reach.
 
UW-Whitewater closes the regular season Saturday at UW-River Falls at 3 p.m.
 
With a UW-Whitewater win and a UW-Oshkosh loss against UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, the Warhawks would clinch a share of the league regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament.