The UW-Superior women's basketball team hadn't found itself in many defensive struggles heading into their game with the UW-River Falls Falcons Wednesday night.

But that was exactly the situation the Yellowjackets found themselves in as neither UW-Superior nor UW-River Falls managed to find much offense through two halves of basketball at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.

Even with their struggles offensively, the Yellowjackets managed to pick up some timely defensive stops down the stretch and connected on 6-of-7 free throws in the final minute to pull out a 49-43 victory and earn their second straight win in conference action.

Having picked up their first conference victory over UW-Platteville on Saturday, the Yellowjackets (8-11 overall, 2-8 WIAC) got off to a good start in the opening half against the Falcons, getting baskets from Hailey Hart (Osseo, Wis.), Kelsey Thingvold (Crystal, Minn.), Connie Urmanski (Edgar, Minn.) and Hillary Peterson (Moose Lake, Minn.) to take an 8-2 lead with 14:45 left in the first half.

The Falcons (13-6, 5-5) would come right back behind seven early points from Alise Holt to cut the deficit to 14-12 following two free throws from Tess Lueders with 6:06 showing on the clock.

UW-Superior continued to lead through the remainder of the first half however thanks to three free throws by Thingvold, two free throws by Hart and a score by Urmanski to take a 25-20 advantage into halftime.

UW-River Falls started the second half on a high note, rallying to even matters 29-29 with 13:40 remaining in regulation following two free throws from Holt.

But the Yellowjackets would respond with an 11-2 burst, keyed by a three-pointer by Urmanski, three free throws by Hart and five points from Jesa Hall (Glenwood City, Wis.) to take their largest lead at 40-31 following Hall's driving hoop with 9:11 left on the clock.

From there, the closest the Falcons would come would be at 45-41 on Lueders' basket with 43.2 seconds left as Urmanski connected on six straight free throws in the final 51.5 seconds to seal the victory.

Offensively, the Yellowjackets were paced by Urmanski's 14 points and eight rebounds while Hart added 13 points. 

Holst led the way for UW-River Falls, scoring a game-high 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  For the game, the Yellowjackets limited the Falcons to just 24.1 percent shooting (13-of-54), including 22.2 percent from three-point range (4-of-18).