The No. 8 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team led nearly wire-to-wire Saturday afternoon to remain in first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a 63-54 victory at UW-River Falls.
 
The Warhawks (20-2 overall, 10-1 WIAC) surged to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and built on the advantage in the third to pick up their eighth true road win of the season.
 
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) tallied a game-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor and added four rebounds and four steals. Johanna Taylor (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) posted nine points, nine rebound and two blocks, and Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) added seven points, two assists and two steals.
 
UW-W shot 39.3 percent from the floor, including a 66.7 percent clip (8-of-12) in the third quarter, and held the Falcons (9-10, 2-8) to 36.5 percent shooting for the contest.
 
A layup by Taylor and a 3-point play by Grundahl gave UW-Whitewater a 5-0 lead just over a minute into the game. The advantage swelled to double digits by the 2:52 mark of the first quarter following a pull-up jumper by Veronica Kieres (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection), and UW-W held a 21-10 lead by the end of the period.
 
The Warhawks' lead grew to 16 with 7:16 on the clock in the second quarter following a pair of free throws by Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg). UW-River Falls trimmed its deficit to nine just over three minutes later, but UW-W scored two minutes later and maintained a 31-20 lead into halftime.
 
UW-Whitewater pulled away in the third quarter thanks to strong shooting from the floor (8-of-12) and the free-throw line (7-of-9). Belschner made it a 19-point game with 1:20 on the clock with a jumper, and after a UWRF bucket, Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) knocked down a free throw in the final minute for a 55-37 UW-W lead through three quarters.
 
Grundahl gave the Warhawks their largest advantage of the game at 58-37 with 8:53 to go. The Falcons chipped away and whittled their deficit down to eight with just over a minute to play but were unable to get any closer the rest of the way.
 
UW-Whitewater hosts UW-Platteville Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Play4Kay Night presented by UW Credit Union at Kachel Gymnasium. All fans are invited to join the Warhawks in wearing pink to support breast cancer awareness.