UW-Whitewater, the WIAC regular season champion, will have a chance to add the league's tournament title Sunday, hosting UW-Stevens Point at 2:00 in Kachel Gym of Williams Center.  UW-W. 21-5, defeated UW-Superior 80-71 Friday night in Whitewater in a semifinal game, and Point, 22-5, topped UW-Oshkosh 59-50 in Oshkosh. 

In a first half that featured eight Whitewater leads, six Superior leads and seven ties --- Whitewater's 35-30 lead at intermission was an anomaly.  UW-W closing the half with a 7-2 burst qualifies as a major run in a game that was pick-em for most of the first twenty minutes.  The halftime margin was the largest lead by either team.

The Warhawks were more prolific from the field, 16 field goals to 11 for the Yellowjackets, but UW-S went 7-9 from the line and Whitewater was just 1-1 in the half.  Superior sophomore guard Kristen Nett led all scorers with eight points in the half.  Junior point guard Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) dished out five assists for the Warhawks.

That all changed with the start of the second half.  UW-W opened with a 9-0 start and that was the knockout blow.  The Warhawks maintained a double digit lead until 2:23 left in the game, despite Yellowjacket senior guard Connie Urmanski's one woman gang show.  Urmanski led both teams with 19 points, all of them coming in the second half as she hit 7-11 from the floor, including 4-5 threes.

Whitewater's success all year has been balanced scoring, and Friday night was no exception.  Senior center Cortney Kumerow (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin) led the Warhawks with 18 points, aided by a season high 15 from freshman center Lisa Palmer (Bartlett, IL/Bartlett).  The junior guard tandem of Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale) and Thill contributed 14 and 12, respectively.  Kumerow shared game honors with Superior's Sally Linzmeier with nine boards, and Thill finished with seven assists. 

Both teams made 26 field goals, with Superior making three more shots from beyond the arc (7-4).  Whitewater's winning margin came at the free throw line where UW-W hit 24-32, compared to 12-15 for the Yellowjackets.  UW-W led in rebounding 43-31, and turnovers, 14-20.  

 It will mark the fourth consecutive year that UW-W and UW-SP have met in the tournament championship game, with the Pointers winning each of the three previous meetings.  Whitewater won both of the regular season matchups, 58-55 December 12 in Stevens Point, and 65-59 January 23 in Whitewater.