Whitewater, Wis. -- The UW-Whitewater women's basketball team cruised into the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 75-53 win over Principia College Friday night. 

With the win, the Warhawks advance to host UW-La Crosse Saturday at 7 PM in Kachel Gym. UWW defeated the Eagles in both regular season meetings -- 62-56 on the road and 74-62 at home -- this season. The Eagles topped Colorado College 79-52 in the first round.

UW-Whitewater got off to an incredible start in Friday's game against the Panthers. Mallory Oloffson (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) opened the scoring with a three-pointer off of a Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) assist. Less than 30 seconds later, Trautsch hit her first attempt of the night - also from long range - off a Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) pass for a 6-0 lead. Trautsch answered a Principia basket with another triple before draining her third three in the first six minutes of the contest to give UWWa 14-4 advantage. 

By the end of the first quarter, the gap ballooned to 24-18. Katie Hildebrandt (McFarland, Wis./McFarland) hit the first basket of the second quarter to push the margin into the 20s. Another three-pointer, this one from Renee Rittmeyer (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) with less than a minute left in the half, extended the Warhawk lead to 30, 47-17. Hildebrandt capped the first 20 minutes with a jumper to send UWW into the intermission with a 32-point advantage. 

The Warhawks were efficient in the first half shooting 47% and 67% in the first two quarters respectively. Meanwhile, the defense held Principia to 15% and 31% from the floor in the first and second quarters. 

The Panthers won the third and fourth quarters outscoring UWW 18-13 in each period for the 75-53 final. 

Hildebrandt led the Warhawks with a double-double hauling in 15 boards to go with 15 points. Trautsch and Oloffson each scored 16 while Rittmeyer added 11.