WHITEWATER, Wis. - The Warhawk women's basketball team accomplished a rare feat, an undefeated conference season, with a 73-53 win over UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon in Kachel Gym for their second consecutive league title. UW-Whitewater's perfect 16-0 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record is the sixth time in league history a team has went undefeated. Head Coach Keri Carollo earned her 229th victory with the win to tie Diane Jones (1975-77, 1979-90) with the most wins in program history.
The Warhawks trailed the Blugolds for the majority of the first half but kept the game close. UW-Eau Claire's lead reached six at the 13:34 mark, 13-7, for its largest advantage of the game. With UW-EC leading by two, 19-17 at the 5:38 mark, the Warhawks rattled off 13 in a row to take an 11 point lead, 30-19 with 44 seconds left. Eau Claire's Kristin Sahr dropped in a three with 26 seconds remaining to end the first half scoring. UW-W held a 30-22 advantage heading into intermission.
Whitewater scored 24 points off the bench in the first 20 minutes compared to EC's 4. Neither team shot particularly well with UW-W going 11-34 (32%) from the field and the Blugolds making 8 of their 32 attempts (25%) from the floor. The Warhawks kept the pressure on with their defense forcing eight turnovers and recorded seven steals in the first half.
Eau Claire whittled the lead to six, 34-28, at the 16:10 mark in the second half but UW-W would not allow the Blugolds any closer. Whitewater went on a 13-2 run to push the margin into double figures, 47-30, with 12:12 remaining. The lead wouldn't dip below 10 the rest of the way.
In the second half, the Warhawks posted a 32-6 advantage in points off the bench. Both teams improved their shooting accuracy, with UW-W going 17-31 (55%) and UW-EC 13-28 (46%) from the field. Whitewater out-shot the Blugolds from long range making 3-6 compared to EC's 0-4.
Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale) tied for game high honors with 14 points adding five assists. Abbie Reeves (Salem/Westosha Central) scored 13, including 3-4 from behind the arc, with Amy Mandrell (Forsyth, IL/Maroa-Forsyth)'s 6-7 from the free throw line highlighting a 12 point performance. Kristen Ruchti (Brodhead/Brodhead) rounded out the double-digit scorers for UW-W with 11. Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) led UW-W with seven rebounds adding three assists and three steals.
The Warhawks earned the number one seed going into the WIAC Championship that begins next week. UW-W will host the lowest remaining seed for a WIAC Semifinal Thursday, February 27 at 7:00 pm in Kachel Gym. The quarterfinal matchups feature UW-Superior (#5) at UW-Stout (#4) and UW-Platteville (#6) at UW-Stevens Point (#3) set for Tuesday evening. UW-Oshkosh received the number two seed and will host the highest remaining seed Thursday.
Undefeated WIAC Seasons
1995-96 UW-Oshkosh, 16-0, Pam Ruder
1997-98 UW-Oshkosh, 16-0, Kathi Bennett
1999-00 UW-Eau Claire, 16-0, Lisa Stone
2002-03 UW-Eau Claire, 16-0, Tonja Englund
2010-11 UW-Stevens Point, 16-0, Shirley Egner
2013-14 UW-Whitewater, 16-0, Keri Carollo