The fourth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team opened Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 79-71 win at UW-Oshkosh Wednesday evening.
The Warhawks, ranked among the top five in both the D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association polls, remain undefeated this season with a perfect 12-0 mark.
UWW jumped out to a quick lead scoring the first seven points of the contest bolstered by a layup and three-pointer from
Katie Hildebrandt (McFarland, Wis./McFarland) in that span. Another triple from Hildebrandt just over two minutes in gave the Warhawks a 10-2 lead. The gap hit double digits multiple times with the largest lead in the first quarter coming at the 3:27 mark as
Mallory Oloffson's (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) pair of free throws made it 21-9. The Titans scored seven of the last nine points of the period to narrow the margin to 23-16 after ten minutes of action.
The Warhawk offense cooled off in the second quarter hitting just 3-10 from the field and 1-5 from long range. UW-Oshkosh captured the lead late in the quarter, but
Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) dropped in the final four points before intermission to send UW-Whitewater into the locker room with a 34-32 advantage.
On the other side of the break,
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) and
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) took over the game. The guard-forward tandem scored all 19 of UWW's points in the third quarter. Carollo was 4-5 from the floor with a pair of free throws while Grundahl also knocked down 4-5 and added one from the charity stripe. The offensive surge had the Warhawks heading into the fourth quarter with a 53-42 lead.
UW-Whitewater widened the gap to as much as 20, 70-50, by the 5:12 mark as Carollo converted an old-fashioned three-point play, but the Titans came roaring back. Starting at the 3:56 mark, UW-Oshkosh went on a 15-0 run to pull to within seven with 1:19 on the clock. The Titans narrowed the gap to six multiple times late but the Warhawks were able to seal the game from the free throw line. UWW hit 6-8 from the line in the final minute to secure the win.
Grundahl led all players with 24 points on 8-17 from the floor and 8-11 from the free throw line. Needing just three Wednesday, Grundahl became UWW's all-time leader in field goal attempts with 1,245 in her career -- she surpassed Mary Merg's mark of 1,231 (2010-2014).
Carollo tallied a double-double with 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds adding four steals, three assists and a block in the outing. Trautsch dropped in 12 points and Hildebrandt rounded out the double digit scorers with 10.
