By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
Waukesha, Wis. — The No. 4 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team came back from a nine-point halftime deficit to top No. 21 Carroll 62-60 on the road Saturday evening.
After an even first quarter where both teams scored 14, the Warhawk offense struggled in the second. UWW shot just 21-percent from the floor while the Pioneers put up 18 to take a 32-23 lead at the intermission.
UW-Whitewater regrouped and came out on fire on the other side of the break. The Warhawks shot a phenomenal 90-percent (9-10) from the floor including 2-3 from beyond the arc adding a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe in the quarter.
UWW whittled away at the lead eventually grabbing the advantage at the 56 second mark on a layup by Maggie Trautsch. She added a pair of free throws to give the Warhawks a 49-46 lead at the end of the third.
An old-fashioned three-point play for Carroll to open the fourth knotted the game 49-49. UW-Whitewater responded with a five-point run courtesy of a triple from Kacie Carollo and a pair of free throws from Bri McCurdy.
Over the next three minutes, the only bucket was a Pioneer free throw. McCurdy broke the drought with a three-pointer at the 2:20 mark to give UWW a 57-50 lead.
The Pioneers hit a layup that was quickly countered by a Carollo layin for UWW. Back-to-back buckets for CU cut the gap to two, 59-57, with 30 seconds to go.
UWW inbounded to Carollo who dribbled through traffic as time ticked off the clock. The Pioneers finally fouled with 19 seconds left and Carollo hit both from the charity stripe to push the lead back to four, 61-57.
Carroll pushed the ball up the court and hit a quick three to narrow the gap to one with 13 seconds remaining. Carollo was fouled again and hit one of two to give UWW a two-point lead with just under 10 seconds to go.
A foul in the paint stopped the clock with two seconds to go and gave the Pioneers an inbounds play with enough time to get a shot off. Carroll did get a three-pointer off but the shot went wide to seal the Warhawk win.
Carollo paced the Warhawks with 26 points on 9-15 from the floor, 3-5 from deep and 5-6 from the free throw line. Trautsch added 17 bolstered by 3-4 from beyond the arc. Mallory Oloffson pulled down nine boards adding four steals in the game.
