Last Saturday the Yellowjacket women's basketball team led UW-Whitewater for most of the game, only to falter late and come away with one in the loss column. Sometimes losses such as that can be devastating to team, while other times they just get brushed aside and the team moves on to the next game.

Thankfully the Yellowjackets did the latter.

On Wednesday night at Mertz Mortorelli Gym the Yellowjackets never trailed, employing a balanced offensive attack that saw six players score at least five points on their way to a 58-48 win over UW-River Falls. With the win the Yellowjackets keep pace with the leaders in the WIAC and sit tied for fourth place with UW-Platteville, a team they have already beaten once on the season and have next on their schedule.

Senior Britnee Blake (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) opened the scoring on Wednesday night, hitting a jumper to put the Yellowjackets ahead. With just over four minutes gone in the game Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) gave the Yellowjackets an 8-3 lead, but then the shooting went cold. It would be almost six minutes before the Yellowjackets would score again, but fortunately River Falls wasn't hitting shots either, and when Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) made a layup with 9:48 to play in the half, the Yellowjackets again pulled ahead by five at 10-5.

Jayme Malnory (Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) made a layup with just over five minutes left in the half to give the Yellowjackets their biggest lead of the half, 21-14. Blake would make a jumper late to build the Yellowjacket lead back up to six, but Tess Lueders made a shot at the buzzer to make the score 28-24 at the break.

Both teams struggled shooting in the first half - the Yellowjackets made 36.7% of their shots, while River Falls was an even more pedestrian 33.3%. Beyond the arc, the teams were a combined 4-19 in the opening 20 minutes.

The Yellowjackets opened the second half still struggling from the field and needed 2:17 to score their first points, which came on free throws by Kennedy. They didn't make their first field goal until almost four minutes were elapsed, that coming courtesy of Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti).

From there the Yellowjacket defense took over and shut down the Falcons for almost five minutes. During that span the Yellowjackets went on a 9-0 run to open up a 14-point lead at 43-29. Alyssa Lindberg accounted for five Yellowjacket points during the run.

River Falls trimmed the lead to as little as six points with just under two minutes to play, but the Yellowjackets again slammed the door defensively. Blake made a layup, drew the foul and made the free throw to complete the three-point play and push the lead back to nine. A pair of free throws by Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) put the lead back in double digits and closed out the scoring for the Yellowjackets.

Lueders made a free throw in the final minute to provide the Falcons with their final points of the night and make the final score 58-48.

Linzmeier led the Yellowjackets with 14 points and 11 rebounds on the night, her seventh double-double of the season. Liljander added 11 points to pace the Yellowjackets offensively. Linzmeier also led the Yellowjackets with three assists. On the defensive side, Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) had three blocks, a season high.

Hailey Siegle led all scorers in the game with 18 points.

Milestone Update: With her 14 points, Linzmeier jumped over Beth Clark (1983-87) and Bri Davis (2008-12) and now sits tenth on the all-time scoring list with 952 points. She is 13th on the all-time rebound list with 444. She needs four assists to jump into the top ten all time and is 14 steals away from establishing a new school record. The record of 217 is currently held by Mandy Giffen (1994-99).

The Yellowjackets (10-6, 4-4 WIAC) will now hit the road for a contest with UW-Platteville on Saturday, January 25. The opening tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 91.3 FM KUWS via tape delay beginning at 5:00 p.m. Matt Johnson will have the call.