The No. 6 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team turned in a complete performance Wednesday night, defeating No. 20 UW-La Crosse 73-47 in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at Kachel Gymnasium.
 
The Warhawks (17-2 overall, 7-1 WIAC) shot 45.9 percent from the floor and held the Eagles to 29.3 percent from the floor.
 
Sophomore guard Veronica Kieres (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) tallied a game-high 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added four rebounds. Junior guard Rebekah Schumacher (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) recorded a career-high 14 points, including 12 in the first half, to go along with six rebounds.
 
In the frontcourt, sophomore forward Courtney Oomens (Lake Geneva, Wis./Badger) and freshman forward Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) collected 11 points apiece. Grundahl added a season-high five assists. Junior forward Johanna Taylor (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) posted eight points and 10 rebounds.
 
UW-Whitewater led 18-14 after a back-and-forth first quarter, and scored the first nine points of the second for a 27-14 advantage at the 6:03 mark of the quarter. The Warhawks extended their lead to 34-17 before the Eagles (14-5, 5-3) drew to within 12 in the final minute. A layup by Kieres gave UW-W a 36-22 halftime advantage.
 
UW-Whitewater continued to lead by double digits in the third quarter, and a layup by Oomens just under the midway point of the period gave the team its largest lead of the night to that point, 47-27. UW-La Crosse got as close as 13 with 2:30 on the clock, but UW-W held a 16-point lead by the end of the quarter.
 
The Warhawks continued to extend the lead in the fourth quarter, gaining an advantage as high as 27 points.
 
UW-Whitewater outscored UW-La Crosse 44-18 in the paint.
 
The Warhawks, who will enter next week in first place at one game ahead of UW-Eau Claire in the WIAC standings, visit UW-Stevens Point next Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m.