La Crosse led 2-1, all of the points coming on free throws, until freshman guard Kaitlyn Thill made the first basket of the game at 16:44 to give UW-W a 3-2 lead. UW-L scored the next seven points, and held the Warhawks scoreless until junior forward Chantel Burg scored to make it 9-5 with 13:45 left in the first half. A Burg jumper tied the game 11-11 at 10:34, but the Eagles opened a 20-14 gap to equal their largest lead of the half. Whitewater turned the tables with a 7-0 spurt to lead 21-20 at 5:04, and the game teetered back and forth until La Crosse held a 30-27 lead with seconds to go. Burg went the length of the court, was fouled attempting a shot, and her two free throws cut the UW-L lead to 30-29 at halftime.
La Crosse shot 40%, Whitewater 32% from the floor in the half. Whitewater caused 14 Eagle turnovers, while committing 10 of its own. The only time either team got a respite from the whirlwind action was at the line, where Whitewater hit 7-8 and La Crosse 6-7.
Thill scored the first points of the second half on a driving lay-in to give UW-W a 31-30 lead. With the game tied 38-38, UW-W's pinball defense led an 8-0 run over a span of 80 seconds to put the Warhawks in front 46-38 with 14:29 left. It was more than three minutes before senior guard Taylor Larson hit a pair of free throws to break the drought for La Crosse, making it 46-40 at 11:20. Whitewater used a 9-1 run to spread margin to 57-45 with 6:34 left, but the Eagles scored the next six points to cut UW-W's lead to 57-51 at the 4:41 mark. The Whitewater defense held UW-L without a score from 3:11 to 1:58, when senior forward Dana Churchill made two free throws to make it 61-55 Whitewater. With the clock conspiring against the Eagles, UW-L was forced to rush three point shots (going 1-5 in the last two minutes) and foul Whitewater to stop the clock, but UW-W went 12-14 from the line in the final minutes to foil the strategy.
The pace of the game took its toll, as the defenses forced a combined 46 turnovers, split evenly. Neither team shot above 41% (Eagles 41%, Warhawks 35%). La Crosse made more threes, 7-23 to 2-11 for UW--W, but Whitewater made up the points at the line, making 25-31 to 14-21 for UW-L.
Whitewater junior forward Chantel Burg led both teams with 18 points, and shared the team lead with nine rebounds. Senior center Dana Thompson also grabbed nine boards, and scored 15 points. Warhawk head coach Keri Carollo used ten players at least thirteen minutes, and nine of them scored. Churchill led UW-L with 17 points, and senior guard Melissa Lang scored 10. Senior center Danielle Frank pulled down a game high 14 rebounds, blocked two shots and altered numerous others.
The teams, who tied for second place in the WIAC's regular season, split their earlier games. UW-W won 83-62 in La Crosse December 1, and La Crosse won 73-66 in Whitewater February 3.
UW-Whitewater women's basketball postseason web site: http://uwwsports.com/custompages/wbball/2010-11/Women's%20Championship%20Site/index.htm