By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
River Falls, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater came back to defeat UW-River Falls 72-71 Saturday. Kacie Carollo hit a pair of free throws in the final two seconds to seal the win.
Box Score
The Warhawks battled back from a 25-19 deficit after the first quarter, cutting the margin in half by the break. UWW trailed by as much as nine partway through the third quarter but continued to fight. With the Falcons leading 57-48 with 4:32 left in the third, Aleah Grundahl knocked down a jumper to spark an 8-2 run capped by a Katie Hildebrandt triple to pull within three. Hildebrandt connected from deep again to narrow the gap to one, 64-63, by the end of the third.
The fourth quarter was low scoring with the teams trading the lead throughout. Carollo found Grundahl in transition for a fastbreak layup to claim the lead with the first bucket of the fourth, 65-64. After a three-pointer for UWRF, Grundahl dropped in a jumper to knot the game 67-67 before the offenses went cold.
The Falcons ended the nearly four-minute scoring hiatus with a layup to pull ahead 69-67 with 4:26 to go. Another three minutes ticked away before another score as UWRF hit another layup to extend the margin to four, 71-67, with 1:07 remaining.
Carollo picked the pocket of a Falcon player and hit Grundahl for a triple to pull UWW to within one, 71-70. UWRF called timeout immediately to advance the ball with 36 seconds left. The Falcons took their time, but as the shot clock ran down, the Warhawk defense surrounded the ball with Grundahl knocking the ball free and Lunden Alexander claiming possession.
UW-Whitewater took a timeout, but because a dribble had occurred, the Warhawks were unable to advance the ball. UWW had just 6.3 seconds to go the length of the floor with one timeout in bank. Bri McCurdy inbounded to Carollo who sprinted up the floor before being fouled with 2.7 seconds on the clock.
Before the sideline inbounds pass was made, UW-River Falls was whistled for another foul – their next foul would put the Warhawks at the line. McCurdy set to inbound in front of the UWW bench, but once again Carollo was fouled before the ball was inbounded. Carollo stepped to the line and drained both to give the Warhawks the 72-71 lead with 2.7 left.
The Falcons took a timeout to advance the ball to their front court. UWW head coach Keri Carollo saw the inbound set and called the Warhawks’ final timeout. UWRF found a guard on the inbound and was able to get a shot off before the buzzer, but it fell short sealing the UWW win.
Grundahl posted a game-high 23 points on 10-17 from the floor and 2-4 from beyond the arc. Carollo registered a double-double with 16 points bolstered by a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line while adding 14 boards and seven assists. Hildebrandt rounded out the double-digit scorers for UWW with 12 points on 4-8 from long range.
UW-Whitewater secured a first round bye in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament as the number two seed. The Warhawks will host the semifinals Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Kachel Gym. UWW’s opponent will be the highest remaining seed after the first round games that include UW-River Falls (#6) at UW-Stout (#3) and UW-La Crosse (#5) at UW-Platteville (#4).
The winners of the semifinal games will advance to the WIAC Tournament Championship. The highest remaining seed will host the final Friday at 7 p.m. The WIAC Tournament Champion will receive the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
