UW-La Crosse 88, UW-Stout 80 |
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MENOMONIE, Wis. (January 27, 2010) - UW-La Crosse could not win it in regulation and UW-Stout missed a game-winning opportunity in overtime, eventually falling to the Eagles, 88-80, in double overtime, Wednesday night at Johnson Fieldhouse.
With 18 seconds remaining in regulation and the game tied at 72, La Crosse (13-6, 5-5 WIAC) failed to score a game-winning basket, sending the game into overtime. At the end of the first OT, Stout's
Julia Hirssig (Sr, Rochester, Minn.) missed what would have been a game-winning free throw with under a second to play.
The Eagles' Melissa Lang was the star of the game early, as she scored her team's first 15 points and 20 of La Crosse's first 25. Five minutes into the game, Lang had outscored Stout's (11-8, 6-4 WIAC) entire team, 13-12.
As soon as the Blue Devils cooled off Lang, they quickly jumped to a 22-15 lead midway through the first half. La Crosse answered, however, with a 10-0 run, taking a three-point lead of their own. The Eagles continued building their lead until halftime, taking a 41-30 lead into the locker rooms.
Stout chipped away at the lead, and got their first tie of the half with eight minutes to go. Stout never led in the second half or either overtime.
Taylor Larson gave La Crosse a three-point lead with 30 seconds to go in the second half. Hirssig, who finished with 25 points and tied her career-high 18 rebounds, made a three-point play with 18 seconds to go to send the game into OT.
La Crosse scored the first four points of overtime to take a 76-72 lead with three minutes to go. Hirssig answered by scoring four points of her own to knot the game at 76. The Eagles hoped to take the last shot in overtime, but after Hirssig grabbed the board on the missed game-winning attempt, she was fouled with 0.7 seconds left on the clock. Hirssig missed the front end of the bonus opportunity, sending the game to another five minutes of play.
La Crosse's Lindsey Litrena hit a three-pointer to put her team up by four early in the period, and Stout could never get the deficit under three, as they saw La Crosse defeat them at home for the first time since 1992.
Lang, who scored 20 points in the first half, finished with a game-high 27 points. Stout made just three out of 17 three-point attempts compared to the Eagles' 10-21. Also, Stout shot 68 percent from the charity stripe, while La Crosse shot 88 percent.
Stout will return to action Saturday, Jan. 30, when they travel to Whitewater to take on the Warhawks at 4 p.m.
