The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers women’s basketball team was in high spirits Saturday night after an 87-82 victory over the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons at Bo Ryan Court.
The final regular season win earned the Pioneers their first home game in WIAC tournament history.
The Pioneer women got off to a rough start at the opening of the game as the Falcons scored seven unanswered points before senior guard Keeley Schulz was able to put the home team on the scoreboard with a layup, 7-2.
By the time UW-Platteville called the first timeout, the Falcons were still up by 7 and Schultz remained the only Pioneer to have scored.
Following the timeout, the Pioneers were able to gain momentum with a layup by senior forward Alyssa Krajco and, a three-pointer by senior forward Stacy Clark.
“Obviously it was not ideal to get down right away but I think we knew before the game even started that this was ours. It just took us a while to get a flow going,” Clark said.
There was tough back and forth action leading up to halftime as the Pioneers and the Falcons stayed well-matched.
With two minutes left in the half, seven total baskets were made, four of them by the Pioneers.
By the end of the first half the Pioneers were up by three with a score of 42-39.
The beginning of the second half echoed the beginning of the game, with the first points going to the Falcons.
Once again Schulz was able to break the Falcon run with a three-point jump shot.
Schulz finished the game with 16 points, going 5-10 from the field and 3-5 from three-point range.
The Pioneers managed to maintain an edge throughout the second half.
In the last two minutes of the game the Falcons went on a 12-7 run, but it was not enough to defeat the Pioneers.
Following the game, the Pioneers’ six seniors were honored in a ceremony It was an emotional night for the team that the Pioneer’s head coach Megan Wilson described as special.
“It was a big win,” Wilson said. “We had a lot on the line. I was just really proud of the way they gutted it out. They did what it took to get the win.”
The upcoming WIAC game will be one more chance for the seniors to play at Bo Ryan Court before graduating.
“It was an all-around good win as a team. We all stayed involved, stayed in it,” sophomore guard Mykaela Brandt said.
Brandt had no doubts that the team would pull through.
The first game in the WIAC tournament took place on Feb. 25 at Bo Ryan Court against
UW-Stevens Point. Results were unavailable before publication.
“It is great that we got a home game,” Wilson said about going into the Wednesday night game. “This league is so tough so I think it is anybody’s game and everybody is zero-zero. It will be fun to see what we can do.”