The No. 6 ranked UW-Whitewater women's basketball team defeated UW-River Falls 71-45 on Saturday afternoon in their 10th Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match of the season.
 
The Warhawks (19-2 overall, 9-1 WIAC) limited the Falcons (5-16, 0-10) to just 29.0 percent shooting throughout to have complete control over the game.
 
Senior Becky Raeder (Sheboygan Falls, Wis./Sheboygan Falls) and junior Rebekah Schumacher (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) both tallied a team-high 16 points. Schumacher recorded new season-highs in points, rebounds (8) and 3-pointers made (3) among other categories.
 
Junior Johanna Taylor (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) and freshman Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg) each recorded three blocks and sophomore Yssa Sto. Domingo (Streamwood, Ill./St. Edward) recorded a team-high four assists.
 
The first quarter started slowly as each team only posted two points in the first three minutes. The Warhawk offense gained momentum after Schumacher's first 3-pointer, which started a seven-point run. The team led by as many as 12 after junior Veronica Kieres (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) hit a three with 41 seconds left.
 
The Falcons countered back in the following five minutes, but the Warhawks took off with back-to-back 3-pointers from Schumacher and Raeder with 3:32 left on the clock. Raeder continued to extend UW-W's lead after making two more baskets from 3-point range. She totaled four three-point field goals throughout the quarter to head into halftime with a 45-27 advantage.
 
UW-W continued to dominate in the second half, leading by as many as 21 points in the third after a layup from Schumacher at the 2:55 mark. The Falcons were unable to come within 18 points in the duration of the quarter.
 
The largest lead of the game came in the fourth quarter when freshman Erika Simmons (Blair, Wis./Melrose-Mindoro) made a layup and earned an extra point from a good free throw to give the Warhawks a 27-point advantage. The game finished about three minutes later with a 71-45 score in favor of the Warhawks.
 
UW-Whitewater will be on the road to visit UW-Platteville on Wednesday for a game starting at 7 p.m.