The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team came back from a first quarter deficit to defeat UW-Stevens Point 55-52 in Whitewater Wednesday night.
The Warhawks struggled to find the bottom of the net in the opening quarter shooting just 14-percent while the Pointers hit 40-percent of the their shots to take a 12-6 lead over UWW.
UW-Whitewater came flying back in the second outscoring UWSP 21-13 in the period to claim a 27-25 lead at the break.
Yssa Sto. Domingo (Streamwood, Ill./St. Edward) sparked the offense with eight points in the quarter hitting a pair of three-pointers and two free throws.
Neither team shot particularly well in the third at 33 and 25 percent as the squads both scored 12 to maintain a two-point game heading into the fourth quarter.
Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg) hit a jumper in the Warhawks' first possession of the fourth to push the lead to four, 41-37. The Pointers quickly responded with a three-pointer and then capitalized on a UWW miscue with another jumper to take the lead, 42-41 with 8:35 on the clock.
Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) reclaimed the lead for UW-Whitewater with a pair of free throws. Less than a minute later, Trautsch hauled in a defensive board and followed with a bucket on the offensive end to extend the gap to three, 45-42, with 7:32 to go.
Over the next four minutes, just three points were scored, a free throw for Point and a layup for Belschner that gave the Warhawks a 47-43 edge.
UW-Stevens Point knocked down a shot in the paint with 3:26 remaining to cut the lead to two, but
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) hit a pair from the charity stripe to bring back the four-point cushion. The Pointers countered with their own set of free throws to once again drop the lead to two, 49-47, with under two to play.
On the Warhawks' offensive end, they entered the ball to
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) in the post. She worked for position, couldn't hit her first attempt but hauled in the board. She battled for another shot and cleaned up the glass again before powering through a foul for the layup and a trip to the line. Grundahl capitalized on the old-fashioned three-point play to give UWW a 52-47 lead with 1:28 left.
A couple of free throws for the Pointers were wiped out by a nifty floater from Sto. Domingo with less than a minute to play. Point made it interesting with a three-pointer that pulled UWSP to within two, 54-52 with 36 seconds to go.
The Warhawks turned the ball over and a quick timeout allowed UWSP to advance the ball. Great defense forced a Pointer turnover and UWW called their own timeout to advance the ball to their offensive end. Grundahl found Trautsch on the inbound who tried to run as much time off before getting fouled. She missed the first but hit the second of the bonus with just over two seconds left.
The final shot for Point from near half court was contested and fell well short for the final.
Sto. Domingo led UWW with 12 points on 4-6 from the field including 2-2 from long range. Grundahl added 11 points despite limited minutes due to foul trouble. Belschner was the most active on the glass with 10 boards. Carollo ended up with nine points and posted a game high four assists adding a pair of blocks and two steals in the contest.
