MENOMONIE (February 6, 2013) - UW-Stout captured their second win in as many games, Wednesday night, when they used a big first half to defeat UW-La Crosse, 69-57, at Johnson Fieldhouse.
Brea Boomer (So, Grand Portage, Minn.) shot 6-of-8 from the floor to score 14 points and Stout used 44 percent shooting to run away from the Eagles, capturing their first win against La Crosse in their last seven meetings.
The game began back-and-forth, with neither team able to gain a substantial lead early. Stout (10-12, 4-9 WIAC) grabbed the first sizeable lead of the game after an 8-0 run put them up, 14-9, with 12:25 to play in the half. The Eagles (9-13, 3-10 WIAC) cut the lead back to one point, but another scoring spurt by Stout put them back up by six.
With just over three minutes to play in the half, two free throws by Rachel Hanley (Jr, Minong) started a 10-2 run to close the half, turning a two point lead into a 36-26 Blue Devil advantage at the break. Haley Froehlich (So, Mondovi) hit a three and Katelynne Folkers (So, Fall Creek) hit a jumper on back-to-back possessions to end the half, with Folkers' dropping through as the buzzer sounded.
Although the Eagles never led in the second half, it was all but a coast to victory for Stout. After La Crosse got their deficit back to single digits quickly, they slowly but consistently chipped away at the lead and, with 12:30 left to play, used a 7-0 to tie the game at 46 apiece. Erin Levenhagen, who led all players with 18 points, scored all seven points during the run.
Stout built their lead back up to eight, but Tricia Van Dusseldorp hit a three to cut it back to five points with 5:30 to play. That was as close as the Eagles would get, however. Their last bucket came with 2:40 left on the clock, after which Stout scored the game's final five points to finish the game with their largest lead of the night.
Folkers led all players with nine rebounds and five assists while Kayla Windt (Sr, Pence) joined Boomer as the only other Blue Devil to score in double digits, with 11. Katie Nickles (So, Braham, Minn.) scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from downtown.
La Crosse remains winless in conference road games, this being their seventh such loss of the season.
Stout will travel to UW-Eau Claire, Saturday, Feb. 9, where they will look to complete the season sweep of the Blugolds. They will finish their regular season with a visit to UW-Stevens Point before they host UW-Oshkosh.