The No. 20 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team shot 50.8 percent from the floor and had four players score in double figures Wednesday night in a season-opening 75-64 victory at Elmhurst in a non-conference affair in Elmhurst, Ill.
The Warhawks (1-0 overall) outscored the Bluejays 17-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away in a tightly-contested game.
Senior guard Brooke Trewyn led UW-Whitewater with a game-high 22 points, including 20 in the first half, to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds for her 10th career double-double.
Senior forward Andrea Meinert posted 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and added six rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore guard Camri Conley collected a career-high 16 points to go along with three steals, and sophomore guard Becky Raeder contributed 11 points off the bench.
The Warhawks led by as many as five points in a high-scoring first quarter, but Elmhurst (0-1) tallied a 12-2 run to grab a 21-16 advantage with one minute to play in the frame. Raeder and Meinert converted layups on back-to-back possessions to close the deficit to one point by the end of the quarter.
The two teams traded the lead in the second quarter, and a free throw by Trewyn put UW-Whitewater ahead by five with two minutes to play in the half. The Bluejays knocked down a 3-pointer to close the Warhawks' lead to two heading into halftime.
The Warhawks took their largest lead of the game at 44-38 after a pair of free throws by Conley three minutes into the third. After Elmhurst forged the game's ninth tie with 1:37 on the clock, sophomore guard Nikki Foster converted a layup, and Conley closed the quarter with a jumper to make it 58-55.
UW-Whitewater built its lead to eight by the 7:29 mark of the fourth, and grabbed a double-digit lead two minutes later on a layup by Meinert.
A layup by Trewyn put the Warhawks ahead by 15 with 3:25 to go, and the team led by no fewer than nine points the rest of the way.
UW-Whitewater opens its 2017-18 home schedule Saturday at 4 p.m. against Beloit on Parents/Family Day at Kachel Gymnasium. The game is the first of a women's/men's doubleheader.