For the second time in two games against UW-Whitewater, the UW-Superior women's basketball team had a possible upset of the Warhawks within reach Saturday afternoon.

But as they did in the two teams' earlier meeting, UW-Whitewater proved to be too much down the stretch, turning a 61-58 lead with 11:47 left into a 12-point lead with just over two minutes before easing home for an 86-73 win at Kachel Gym.

The Yellowjackets fell despite a solid first half in which they connected on 51.6 percent (16-of-31) of their shots in the opening 20 minutes.

Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) got UW-Superior (12-9 overall, 5-7 WIAC) going early, scoring the Yellowjackets first two points before a jumper by Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) and a three-pointer by Britnee Blake (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) lead to a 7-4 lead just 2:02 into the opening stanza.

UW-Whitewater (19-3, 13-0) came right back, scoring the next seven for an 11-7 edge after a free throw by Amy Mandrell with 15:38 remaining on the clock.

Consecutive baskets from Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Allyssa Lindberg (Marquette, Mich./Marquette) allowed the Yellowjackets to even matters 17-17 before at the 12:45 mark before a three-point play by Kaitlyn Thill, a layup by Andrea Olson and a jumper by Mandrell gave UW-Whitewater the lead back at 30-25 with 7:23 left in the opening frame.

UW-Superior again came back, getting a jumper from Linzmeier and another three-pointer from Blake to take their largest lead of the game at 35-31 with 5:13 remaining.

The Warhawks again rallied, getting two free throws from Mary Merg in the final 21 seconds for a slight 40-38 lead at the break.

Matters remained tight to begin the second half, as a jumper by Linzmeier and an inside score from Hadley Skalmoski (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) brought UW-Superior to within 47-46 with 17:14 left in regulation.

The Yellowjackets continued to hang around for the next 5:33, getting a three-pointer from Lindberg to trim the deficit to 61-58 at the 11:47 mark of the second half.

UW-Whitewater began to pull away from there however, scoring nine of the next 10 points for a 69-59 cushion on a free throw by Kristen Ruchti with 8:03 remaining in the contest.

The Yellowjackets never got closer than eight points the rest of the way as the Warhawks, who connected on 23-of-37 free throws for the game, connected on eight straight shots from the charity stripe in the final 58 seconds to clinch the victory.

Linzmeier led the Yellowjackets with 23 points on 11-of-18 shooting.   Liljander and Lindberg each finished with 10 points for UW-Superior as well.

UW-Whitewater was paced by Mandrell with a game-high 25 points.  Thill added 17 points while Katie Burton and Abbie Reeves had 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Yellowjackets return home to face UW-Stout on Wednesday night.  Game time from Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium is scheduled for 7 p.m.  The game can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS with Matt Johnson on the call.