The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team topped the University of California Santa Cruz 61-60 in an absolute thriller featuring two top 25 squads at the Kaiser Permanente Arena Tuesday. The Warhawks are ranked 21st in the most recent D3hoops.com poll while the Banana Slugs are listed 18th.
The game was tight throughout but the Warhawks' turned their stifling defense that forced 23 turnovers into 25 points. UWW gave up just 14 off turnovers in the contest. UW-Whitewater won the first and second quarters to take a 31-27 lead into the break. UC Santa Cruz came back to outscore the Warhawks 19-14 in the third to take a 46-45 advantage into the final quarter.
The Banana Slugs rattled off 9 of the first 11 in the fourth to extend their lead to eight, 55-47 with just over seven minutes remaining. UWW responded with a 6-0 spurt off of a pair of
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) layups followed by another from
Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest). From that point, the teams traded buckets down to the 2:25 mark when Carollo hit two from the charity stripe to pull the Warhawks to within two, 59-57.
With less than a minute to go,
Yssa Sto. Domingo (Streamwood, Ill./St. Edward) registered the steal and was fouled. She knocked down both free throws to knot the game at 59 with 42 seconds left. The Banana Slugs missed a layup following a timeout and
Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg) hauled in the defensive board with UWW immediately calling timeout.
Out of the break, with the shot clock winding down, a skip pass found Sto. Domingo on the left wing. She took a few dribbles towards the paint but the Banana Slugs kept her from getting to the basket. Stopped just outside the lane she stepped across the defender with her right toward the lower block and tossed up a scoop shot that went off the backboard and through with eight seconds remaining.
UC Santa Cruz called timeout to advance the ball. On their final offensive set, the Banana Slugs drew a foul with three seconds remaining to head to the free throw line. They dropped in the first and UWW called timeout. The second didn't fall and Carollo cleaned up the glass to secure the win.
Carollo led all scorers with 21 on 8-15 from the floor. She added five boards, three steals, two assists and a block in the contest. Belschner was 5-7 from the field for 12 points while hauling in 12 boards for the double-double. Trautsch wrapped up the double digit scorers for the Warhawks with 10.
