By Broderick P. Frye
Asst. Sports Information Director
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team headed down to Bloomington, IL for a big non-conference match-up against Illinois Wesleyan. Trailing for most of the game, the Warhawks put together a huge run in the fourth to pull out the 82-80 victory.
After falling behind after the first quarter, the Warhawks closed the gap to just one point at halftime after a huge second quarter. The Titans regained their hold on the lead in the third & kept a hold on that lead for most of the fourth, but a huge Warhawk run pushed the Warhawks into the lead with just two minutes remaining.
In the first quarter, the Titans outscored the Warhawks 27 to 17. The large lead was fueled by three-point shooting, with IWU making four of their first five shots from behind the arc. An offensive tip-in rebound by Lunden Alexander (Dolton, Ill./Thornwood) at the buzzer brought the Titan lead to only 10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Warhawks picked it up the second, outscoring the home team 21 to 12. UW-Whitewater was unable to take the lead, but the one point difference at halftime pulled the Warhawks closer.
After the break, both teams had a high-scoring third quarter, but the Titans regained some of that first quarter lead, outscoring UWW 26 to 20.
In the fourth quarter, the Titan lead grew to 10 points with five minutes to go in the game. But the Warhawks weren’t finished, as they put together a 13-0 run to pull ahead. After the media timeout, the Warhawks outscored the Titans 18-6 on their way to the comeback.
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) led all scorers with a huge 33-point outing. To go along with the scoring, Grundahl also pulled down 10 rebounds & dished out 5 assists. Katie Hildebrandt (McFarland, Wis./McFarland) also recorded her own double-double, with 12 points & 10 rebounds. Rounding out the scoring & nearly recording her own double-double, Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) finished with 10 points & 8 rebounds.
UW-Whitewater dominated on the glass throughout the game, pulling down 49 rebounds to Illinois Wesleyan’s 29. The Warhawks had 24 offensive rebounds that they turned into 20 second chance points.
After the Thanksgiving break, the Warhawks will head out on the road to take on Calvin on Saturday, November 25th. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. (ET).
