Saint Peter, Minn. – The No. 10 UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team mounted a phenomenal fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Gustavus Adolphus 47-44 on the road Tuesday evening. With the win, the Warhawks will head into 2026 with a 10-1 record.
Gustavus Adolphus held a lead through most of the contest widening the margin to as much as 10. By the end of the third, UWW trailed by eight.
Renee Rittmeyer (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) sparked the Warhawks early in the fourth with an old fashioned three-point play to narrow the gap to five, 38-33. Caden Krohn (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West) broke a scoring lull with a pair of free throws just under the seven-minute mark to pull UWW to within three.
The Gusties knocked down a three but Bri McCurdy (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) had the quick response nailing a triple to make it a three-point game once again. Rittmeyer drew another foul and hit one of two at the line before Brooke Stenklyft (Cambridge, Wis./Cambridge) hit a jumper in the paint to tie the game 41-41 with just over four minutes remaining.
The rest of the Warhawk points came from the charity stripe. Krohn drained a pair to give UWW the lead. Rittmeyer added another to push the lead to 44-41. McCurdy and Camryn Nies (Platteville, Wis./Platteville) also hit one each to extend the gap to five, 46-41, with 39 seconds left.
Gustavus Adolphus hauled in a defensive rebound and called timeout to advance the ball. They capitalized with a three-pointer to cut the margin to two with 29 seconds on the clock. The Gusties got the steal shortly after the inbound and called timeout. Their shot from deep caromed off the rim and into the hands of Rittmeyer. Coach Carollo signaled for timeout and advanced the ball into UWW’s offensive end. McCurdy was fouled and went to the line, hitting the second to push the advantage to three.
GAC was able to get two shots off in the final 10 seconds. Mia Gillis (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel Catholic) blocked the first and the second was no good at the buzzer for the win.
UW-Whitewater shot 43% from the floor in the fourth while holding Gustavus Adolphus to just 13% from the field. The free throw line was UWW’s biggest advantage in the contest as the Warhawks hit 15-24. The Gusties had just eight attempts from the charity stripe making three of their chances.
McCurdy led UWW with 11 points while Stenklyft added 10. Rittmeyer paced the Warhawks on the glass with six rebounds.
Editor’s note: This report was posted to the UW-W Athletics site.
