The No. 4 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team claimed at least a share of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship and the top seed in the conference tournament Saturday with a 57-39 victory at UW-Eau Claire.

The Warhawks (21-2 overall, 11-1 WIAC), who now have nine WIAC titles in their history, held the Blugolds to only 12 made field goals and 25.5 percent shooting from the floor, and finished with advantages on second-chance points (15-3) and points in the paint (26-16).

Freshman forward Aleah Grundahl tallied a game-high 17 points along with nine rebounds. Senior guard Becky Raeder posted 15 points, three rebounds and three assists, and sophomore guard Veronica Kieres totaled seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

After UW-Eau Claire (15-8, 9-3) drew to within 9-8 at the midway point of the first, the two teams combined for only one more made basket over the final five minutes, 10 seconds of the quarter. A layup by junior guard Adriana Green with 2:34 left gave UW-Whitewater an 11-8 lead.

The Warhawks led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but the Blugolds closed the period on an 11-2 run to draw within 23-21 heading into halftime.

The two teams traded buckets until the midway point of the third, when UW-Whitewater began to pull away with an 8-1 run, including six points from Grundahl, to make it 38-28 with 1:29 on the clock. Raeder knocked down a 3-pointer with under a minute to go to bring the score to 43-31.

The Warhawks scored the first three points of the fourth and built their lead up to 18 points by the 2:43 mark. UW-W held UW-EC to eight points in the frame.

UW-Whitewater hosts UW-Oshkosh Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Kachel Gymnasium in its regular season home finale. All fans are encouraged to join the team in wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. All proceeds from Wednesday's event will benefit Play4Kay.