La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 59-56 to Luther College (Iowa) Saturday night in the Holiday Inn Express Thanksgiving Classic in Mitchell Hall.  Playing their home opener, the Eagles drop to 2-2 on the season while the Norse improve to 3-1.  Luther snapped a four-game losing streak to UW-L with the win.

Luther raced out to a 9-1 lead as UW-L missed its first 12 shots from the field. The Eagles scored six straight points to cut the lead to 9-8 as Briana Radowicz hit a three-pointer and Erin Levenhagen converted a three-point play. UW-L finished its 10-0 run to lead 11-9 with 13:54 left after Jenna Anderson's three-point play. 

The contest was tied 13-13 when the Norse used a 11-4 run to lead 24-17 with 5:43 remaining in the half. UW-L scored six consecutive points to make it 24-23, but Luther went on a 12-0 run to end the half and lead 36-23. 

Luther led 42-29 with 17:49 left after a Nellie Nelson layup, but UW-L went on a 13-1 run to cut the lead to 43-42 with 10:49 remaining. The Norse scored the next seven points to lead 50-42. Luther led 57-52 with 2:30 left before Levenhagen's three-point play with 1:46 remaining cut the lead to 57-55.

After Luther had two turnovers and missed two shots from the field and UW-L missed two shots and had one turnover, the Eagles' Radowicz was fouled with :15 left. She hit one-of-two at the line and Luther's Taylor Johnson grabbed the rebound and was fouled.  Johnson made both free throws with :09 remaining for a 59-56 lead, but UW-L turned the ball over with :02 left. 

Radowicz led UW-L with a career-high 22 points. She was four-of-eight from three-point range. Levenhagen finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals while Camille Driscoll had 10 points, six rebounds and four steals. 

UW-L shot 27.7% from the field, including 25.0% (four-of-16) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 72.7% (16-of-22) from the free throw line.

Johnson led Luther with 18 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three blocks while Nelson finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds. 

Luther shot 38.5% from the field, including 25.0% (three-of-12) from three-point range. The Norse shot 76.2% (16-of-21) at the line.

UW-L returns to action Sunday, November 25 hosting Loras College (Iowa) at 3 p.m.