The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team fell to Calvin 66-64 in a nail-biter in Whitewater Saturday afternoon.
Free throws were the most vital statistic of the game. The Knights were 17-21 at the charity stripe while UW-Whitewater was just 10-19.
Calvin jumped out to an early lead before the Warhawks worked their way back into the contest eventually taking the lead with a stellar second quarter. UWW ended the period on a 12-2 run.
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) hit a pair of driving layups, turning one into a three-point play while
Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg) was fantastic around the rim dropping in the other seven of the run. That spurt gave UW-Whitewater a 34-31 lead at the break.
The third was the tightest quarter of the contest with the Knights outscoring the Warhawks 16-14 to pull to within one, 48-47 with 10 minutes remaining.
An early free throw knotted the game 48-48 to open the fourth before
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) and Carollo knocked down back-to-back buckets for a 52-48 UWW lead. The Knights responded with a pair of their own baskets before Carollo nailed a triple to make it 55-52 with 6:24 on the clock.
Calvin used a pair of free throws and a three of their own to reclaim the lead 57-55 with under five to play. The teams traded buckets until the 1:34 mark when a Knights' three-pointer sparked a run that had Calvin leading 66-61 with just five seconds remaining. The Warhawks had a few offensive opportunities late but couldn't capitalize.
Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) went up for a deep three with three-tenths of a second remaining and was fouled. She hit all three from the charity stripe to cut the lead to 66-64 but UWW didn't have enough time to try for the steal and put back.
Carollo posted a game-high 18 bolstered by three triples. She added a team-high six rebounds. Belschner dropped in 14, blocked six shots and drew eight fouls in the game. Trautsch rounded out the double figure scorers with 13. Grundahl led all players with five steals.
