UW-Whitewater held an opponent under 40 points for the first time in twelve years, and forced 40 turnovers for the first time in more than two decades, in an 83-39 win over Edgewood College in Kachel Gym in Williams Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin Saturday night.
It was still a contest at the 12:13 mark when Whitewater led 14-10. But UW-W had a double digit lead, 24-14, with 9:16 on the clock, and at 5:27 Whitewater led 29-18 and the game was never under double digits the rest of the way. The margin reached 20+ points, 40-19, on layup by junior guard Katie Burton (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) just before halftime.
UW-Whitewater's defense had already forced 20 turnovers by halftime.
With 9:33 left in the game junior guard Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale)'s layin pushed UW-W past the thirty point margin, 58-27, and with just 2:33 remaining in the game freshman forward Erin Schuler (Kiel/Kiel)'s jumper increased the lead to forty, 75-35.
UW-W coach Keri Carollo used twenty-three players in the game and sixteen of them scored. Merg led both teams with 21 points in 21 minutes of playing time. The only other double figure scorer for Whitewater was senior center Cortney Kumerow (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin), with 12. Junior guard Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) contributed seven assists and seven steals, with senior guard Megan Theune (Whitewater/Whitewater) also credited with seven thefts.
The last time a Whitewater opponent was held under 40 points was December 21, 1999 when the Warhawks defeated Muhlenberg College 58-37. The 43 turnovers by Edgewood is the fourth highest total ever by a Warhawk opponent, and the most since UW-Stout had 51 December 9, 1989.
Edgewood was led by senior forward Melanie Walker's 16 points.
UW-W is 3-1, and Edgewood 0-4.
UW-Whitewater, eighth in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, will play at fifth ranked Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois Wednesday. The Warhawks' next home game will be December 5 at 7:00 with UW-La Crosse visiting Kachel Gym in Williams Center.