The UW-Whitewater women, ranked seventeenth by D3hoops.com, defeated UW-Platteville 72-60 Wednesday evening in Williams Fieldhouse, running the Warhawks' win streak over the Pioneers to fourteen. Whitewater improved to 12-3 overall and remained in first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 6-0 mark. UW-Platteville is 8-7 overall and 2-4 in league play. The Pioneers have dropped their last three WIAC contests.

Whitewater took its first lead of the game, at 8-7, at 16:05 on a Reilly Stewart (Wheaton, IL/Wheaton North) three. The Pioneers came back to regain the lead on the next possession and junior forward Alyssa Krajco's basket, giving her nine points, made it 11-8 Platteville. The Pioneers extended their lead to 12-8, when Whitewater went on a 12-0 run to take a 20-12 lead, five of the points coming from freshman guard Andrea Olsen (East Troy/East Troy).

UW-W still had a 25-18 advantage with 6:13 left in the first period, and senior center Kristen Ruchti (Brodhead/Brodhead)'s three point play gave the Warhawks' their first double digit lead, 28-18 with 5:50 remaining. The Pioneers cut the deficit in half, 34-29, as the teams went into the lockerroom.

Krajco led all scorers with 12 points in the half. Olsen topped the Warhawks with eight. Whitewater shot 41% from the field and went 5-8 from the line, while Platteville hit 39% and was 8-11 at the stripe. Platteville had a 17-15 edge on the glass, while UW-W had nine turnovers to eleven for UW-P.

Sophomore guard Abbie Reeves (Salem/Westosha Central) opened the second half with her second three of the game to put them in front 37-29, but a pair of free throws and a hoop, followed by a three by senior guard Melissa Carmody cut the Warhawk lead to 37-36 at 17:33, and Krajco put UW-P in front 38-37 for the first time since the 13:48 mark of the first half. Seven in a row restored the lead to Whitewater 44-38 at the 15:04 mark.

The lead stretched to 53-44 on a layup from senior center Amy Mandrell (Forsyth, IL/Maroa-Forsyth) at 12:38. Reeves pushed it back to double digits, 62-52, with a three-pointer at 7:55. Thirteen seconds later two free throws from senior guard Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale) pushed the margin to 64-52, the largest of the game.

Even though Platteville shot 47% from the floor to 43% and outrebounded UW-W, Whitewater hit eleven three-pointers in the game to four for UW-P, a twenty-one point margin. The Warhawks also were plus-eight in the turnover column. Olsen led five Warhawks in double figures with 18 points, connecting on 7-10 from the floor. Senior guard Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee) added 12, Reeves and Ruchti 11 each, and Merg 10. Thill and Stewart dished out five assists, and Ruchti grabbed 11 boards. Krajco led all scorers with 24 points and cleaned the glass with 14 rebounds. Junior center Stacy Clark added 15 points for UW-P.

UW-W will travel to the top of the state Saturday to face UW-Superior. The Warhawks will host UW-La Crosse Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00 in Kachel Gym of Williams Center.