The last time the UW-Superior women's basketball team faced off against UW-River Falls, the Yellowjackets found themselves trailing by six at the half before rallying back for a hard-fought 72-67 win at Mertz Mortorelli Gymansium.

History repeated itself Wednesday night as the Yellowjackets again trailed the Falcons by six at the break.

Unfortunately for UW-Superior, the end result proved to be different this time around as the Falcons grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, including a crucial put-back basket by Richell Mehus in the final 30 seconds, on the way to posting a 53-48 victory at the Karges Center in River Falls.

Mehus' basket gave the Falcons a 50-47 lead with just 26 seconds left and the Yellowjackets never got any closer the rest of the way in dropping to 18-5 overall and 10-4 in WIAC conference action.

UW-River Falls meanwhile improved to 13-9 overall and 7-6 in league play with the win.

The Yellowjackets fell behind early in the first half when Brittany Gregorich scored two baskets in the first 2:16 to give UW-River Falls a 4-0 cushion with 17:44 remaining on the clock.

Layups from Jessie Van Whye and Gregorich extended the Falcons' edge to 8-2 before two free throws by Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) and a driving layup by Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) brought UW-Superior to within 8-6 with 13:27 left in the first half.

The Yellowjackets trimmed to lead to 12-11 just over three minutes later when Hillary Peterson (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake) drained a short turnaround jumper at the 9:47 mark.

But two more free throws and a three-pointer by Van Whye extended the UW-River Falls lead to 17-11 with 8:45 remaining before two layups from Gregorich in the final 5:24 helped the Falcons take a 26-20 lead into halftime.

A free throw by Mehus on the first possession of the second half upped the Falcons' advantage to 27-20 before the Yellowjackets went on a 16-7 burst to take their first lead of the game at 36-34 on a three-pointer by Kristen Nett (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port) with 10:41 left in regulation.

Linzmeier started the run for the Yellowjackets with a short jumper before Kailee McDonald (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) followed up with jumpers to bring UW-Superior to within 29-26.

Connie Urmanski (Edgar, Wis./Edgar) then hit a three-pointer at the 15:42, Linzmeier added a jumper at 12:06 and Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) hit two free throws with 11:50 before Nett's shot gave UW-Superior a two-point lead.

The two sides traded the lead over the next six minutes, resulting in a 46-43 Yellowjackets lead following a layup by Vavra with 3:17 left in regulation.

UW-River Falls responded with a free throw from Nikki Guhr and a layup from Mehus to even matters up 46-46 at the 2:09 mark of the second half.

From there, Gregorich got a layup to give the Falcons a 48-46 lead before Mehus' rebound made it 50-47.

Van Whye and Hailey Siegle then followed up with free throws in the final 14 seconds to put the game out of reach for the Falcons.

Linzmeier led the Yellowjackets with 15 points and nine rebounds.  Urmanski added 12 points for UW-Superior.

UW-River Falls was paced by Gregorich with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Van Whye also had 15 points while Mehus finished with 10 points.

Milestone Update: Urmanski appeared in her 99th career game, putting her in a second place on the all-time list. She is one away from tying the school record, held by Kelsey Thingvold (2007-11). Her 12 points increased her career total to 1,122. With one assist she now has 265, second all-time. McDonald played her 96th career game, tied for fourth all-time. Hillary Peterson (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake) had two blocks, giving her 69 for her career, 17 behind Courtney Lane (1997-01) for second all-time.  

The Yellowjackets head down toe Kachel Gymnasium Saturday to take on UW-Whitewater.  Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.