La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 56-54 to UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles drop to 8-12 overall and 3-8 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 9-11 overall and 4-7 in the conference.  UW-Whitewater earned its seventh straight win over UW-L with Saturday's victory.

The contest was tied seven times in the first while totaling eight lead changes.  UW-Whitewater led by as many as four points in the first and UW-L by as many as three.  The Eagles led 28-27 at halftime.

UW-L led 36-33 with 15:51 remaining in the game when it scored five straight points to take its largest lead at 41-33 with 14:27 left. The Eagles later led 44-37 when the Warhawks scored six consecutive points to make it 44-43.

UW-L led 51-46 with 5:55 remaining after a Elise DeNoyer layup when UW-Whitewater went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the second half at 52-51 with 2:54 left on a Malia Smith free throw.  The Eagles tied the game at 52-52 with 2:11 left after Maggi Bishop made one-of-two at the line.  The Warhawks' Andrea Olsen hit both free throws with :34 remaining to give UW-Whitewater a 54-52 advantage, but the Eagles' Jenna Anderson tied the game at 54-54 with a pair of free throws of her own with :23 left.

After a timeout, UW-Whitewater ran the clock down with Brooke Trewyn missing a layup with :05 remaining, but Andrea Meinert grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the winning layup on the putback at the buzzer.

UW-L shot 33.3% from the field, including 14.3% (one-of-seven) from three-point range, and 70.8% (17-of-24) at the free throw line.  Bishop led the Eagles with 16 points and eight rebounds while DeNoyer finished wiht 10 points and seven rebounds.  Rachel Atchison and MaKenzie Miller each scored eight points.  Miller and Cameron Chapin each had seven rebounds.

UW-Whitewater shot 27.3% from the field, including 37.5% (three-of-eight) from three-point range, and 76.7% (23-of-30) at the line.  Kate McKay led the Warhawks with 11 points and nine rebounds while Meinert totaled 10 points and seven rebounds.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, February 4 hosting UW-Stout at 7 p.m.