La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team earned a 59-45 victory over UW-Stout Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 8-7 overall and 2-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blue Devils drop to 6-10 overall and 2-5 in the conference.  UW-L recorded its seventh win in the last eight meetings with UW-Stout.

UW-L led 10-8 with 13:23 left in the first half when it went on a 12-0 run to lead 22-8 with 7:11 remaining. After the Blue Devils' Nicki Alexander converted a pair of free throws with 6:42 left to cut the Eagles' lead to 22-10, UW-L's Jenny Gallagher and Maggi Bishop hit field goal attempts to make it 26-10. 

UW-Stout missed 17 shots from the field in the first half.  The Blue Devils went from 13:23 to 3:53 without a field goal, but did finish the half on a 9-2 run to trail 28-19.

Jenna Anderson scored the first three points of the second half to give UW-L a 31-19 advantage with 17:05 left.  The Eagles led 34-23 with 13:27 remaining when the Blue Devils used a 17-6 run to force a 40-40 tie with 7:57 left. 

Bishop gave UW-L a two-point lead with a jumper with 7:29 remaining and the Eagles would never trail again.  UW-L led 48-44 with 4:05 left when it finished the game on a 11-1 run.  UW-Stout missed its final 11 shots from the field. 

UW-L shot 38.0% from the field, including 41.7% (five-of-12) from three-point range, and 44.4% (16-of-36) at the free throw line. 

Anderson led the Eagles with 15 points and seven steals.  The seven steals is tied for sixth in single-game school history.  

Rachel Atchison finished with 11 points Wednesday night while Bishop had 10 points and nine rebounds.  Erin Levenhagen had a team-high 13 rebounds and five blocks.  Gallagher and Marina Kneeland each scored sevne points. 

UW-Stout shot 21.7% from the field, missing all 15 of its three-point attempts.  The Blue Devils shot 57.7% (15-of-26) at the line.  

Jenna Goldsmith led UW-Stout with 12 points while Katelynne Folkers finished with a game-high 20 rebounds (nine offensive). 

Each team finished with 26 turnovers and the teams combined for 55 fouls, including UW-Stout with 32.  The teams combined to go 31-of-62 (50.0%) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 18 hosting UW-Platteville at 3 p.m.