UW-La Crosse 75, UW-Stout 61
MENOMONIE (February 19, 2021) - UW-Stout closed out divisional play with a 75-61 loss to UW-La Crosse Friday at Johnson Fieldhouse.
The Blue Devils (2-4, 2-4 WIAC) stayed within striking range throughout the night. Stout would find themselves down by seven point and would scratch back to a two-point deficit, only to find themselves down again by seven. The trend continued through the first quarter and Stout looked like they would break the mold in the second period, pulling ahead by two points, 19-17, on an
Anna Mutch put-back four minutes into the period. The Eagles built the lead to seven points again a couple of minutes later, only to see Stout regain the lead, 31-30, after
Tess Johnson stole the ball and laid it in. La Crosse regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Emma Gomeke with four seconds left and went into the halftime locker room with a 33-31 lead.
La Crosse (4-2, 4-2 WIAC) maintained small lead in the opening minutes of the third period, then built up an eight point lead. Stout cut the lead to three, 42-39, when
Liz Oswald buried a 3-pointer, then added a bucket off a Sam Schaefer steal. La Crosse led 53-47 at the end of the third period.
After a scoreless first three minutes of the fourth quarter, La Crosse took a 56-49 lead on Julia Seidel's 3-pointer at the 6:43 mark. Stout would get as close as eight points, only to see La Crosse build up as much as a 17 point lead in the waning minutes.
Ava Kramer, Emma Gomoke and Gabbie Ritchie all scored 16 points to lead the Eagles, who led at the end of every period, including a 33-31 halftime lead.
Stout got 15 points from
Liz Oswald and 13 points from
Anna Mutch, who also had a team-best eight rebounds. Oswald recorded seven rebounds.
The Blue Devils forced 20 La Crosse turnovers, with most of them coming on Stout steals as the Blue Devils picked La Crosse's pocket 16 times. Johnson had five steals, while Yaeger Olsem, Oswald, Mutch and
Erin O'Brien each had two.
The Eagles shot 43.1 percent (22-51) from the floor and made six 3-pointers, but cleaned up at the line, hitting 25-32 charity shots (78.1). Stout shot 33.8 percent (22-65) and made four 3-pointers. Stout was 13-22 from the line.
The Blue Devils will host UW-Whitewater in the first of three consecutive games with the Warhawks, Wednesday, Feb. 24. Stout will travel to Whitewater, Friday, Feb. 26, then get back on the bus to Whitewater Monday, March 1 to play the Warhawks in the first round of the WIAC tournament.
