RIVER FALLS (January 29, 2014) - With the exception of a few scant moments in the second half and a few brief seconds in the first half, UW-Stout led from start to finish and held off any UW-River Falls' charges to take a 66-57 win over the Falcons Wednesday at Karges Center.

Powered by 10 points by both Sami Schoeder and Brea Boomer, Stout held as much as a nine point lead, 26-19, with three minutes left in the first half. The Falcons went on a 10-0 run to take a 27-26 lead with 23 seconds left i nthe half. Two free throws by Becca Smith with  14 seconds left in the half gave Stout a 28-27 halftime lead.

The first 10 minutes of the second half proved to be a close affair, with four tied scores and five lead changes. The Falcons held a three point, 35-32 lead at 16:15 of the second. A free throw by Schoeder and a bucket by Kyleigh Hebert tied the score at 35 apiece.

Hebert put Stout up by one with a free throw, but the Falcons' Haley Siegle returned the favor seconds later. Caitlin Combs hit the back end of a pair of free throws to give Stout the lead. The Falcons Courtney Kanipes' layup gave the Falcons the 38-37 lead. Schoeder drove for a lay-up and a 39-38 Stout lead. The Blue Devils would not trail again.

Stout knocked down eight consecutive free throws to take a 47-40 lead and the score got only as close as five points the rest of the way.

Both teams racked up good chunks of their points at the free throw line. With Boomer leading the way by shooting 8-of-10 charity shots, Stout connected on 27-of-35 free throws (77.1 percent). Sliegle hit 7-of-9 free throws for the Falcons, who hit 20-of-35 free throw attempts (57.1 percent). The Falcons had three players foul out and two with four fouls. The Blue Devils had one player fould out and two with four fouls.

Schoeder led the way with 20 points, 10 in each half. She dropped in three 3-point buckets, the only three Stout connected on. Boomer finished with 16 points.  Stout shot 18-of-47 from the floor (38.3 percent). The Falcons got 10 points form Tess Lueders and nine points from Katie Messman. River Falls shot 18-of-48 from the floor (37.5 percent) and made only one 3-pointer.

The win evened the series between the two for the season. River Falls had taken a 67-52 decision in December at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout returns home to host UW-Whitewater Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. The game will be telecast live on FSN Wisconsin and FSN North.