Jan. 27, 2016

By Josh Sinclair

The No. 17-ranked UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team (14-3) began the season perfect, going 12-0. Over the course of the last five games, the Warhawks have dropped three of them, including two 13-point losses to ranked opponents.

“We work hard to win every game,” head coach Keri Carollo said. “We just want to continue to improve with every performance.”

The Warhawks not only started the season winning games, but relied on some incredibly hot shooting to do so. Through the first six games of the season, the ’Hawks averaged 82.5 points per game and beat teams by an average of almost 25 points.

The ’Hawks began a two-game home stand on a positive note, defeating the UW-La Crosse Eagles, 79-47.

The second game in the home stand was a face off against the No.13 UW-Oshkosh Titans (13-3).

The Warhawks were unable to overcome a hot-shooting performance by the Titans in a 79-66 setback in a WIAC matchup.

Five players scored in double figures for the Warhawks, who shot 46 percent from the field and outscored the Titans 36-20 in the paint in a game they never led in.

UW-O made its presence known from the outside. The Titans hit 52.4 percent from the floor and made nine 3-pointers, including shooting six of nine in the second half, and converted 26-of-30 from the free-throw line.

“When you play against a team that is shooting well, there is not a lot that you can do defensively,”  Carollo said. “We continue to work hard to make it difficult for teams to score on us.”

Sophomore guard Brooke Trewyn tallied a team-high 12 points, including eight in the third quarter, to pace Whitewater. Junior guards Andrea Olsen, Reilly Stewart and sophomore guard Malia Smith registered 11 points apiece to contribute to the effort.

The two teams combined for 20 turnovers in the first half, but they committed just nine in the second half.

The Titans hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it 49-39 with 3:57 left in the third quarter and led by six heading into the fourth.

After a quick layup from the Titans to start the fourth, the Warhawks never got within eight points the rest of the way.

On Jan. 23 the Warhawks were in action again against UW-Eau Claire. The team defeated the Blugolds by a score of 54-52 to move to .500 in the WIAC.

Despite shooting just 26.5 percent from the field on 18-of-68 attempts, the Warhawks were able to score enough to steal the victory.

Defense led the way for the Warhawks, holding the Blugolds to 31.4 percent shooting from the floor. The Warhawks also forced the Blugolds to commit 16 turnovers.

Trewyn tallied 16 points on 5-11 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds to lead the way for the Warhawks for the second-consecutive game.

“Brooke has the ability to score at will when she wants to,” Carollo said. “She is a great player and she will continue to improve as she gets older.”

The first half was see-saw action that saw the ’Hawks jump out to a 17-7 lead after one period of play. The Warhawks went cold in the second period leading to the Blugolds out-pacing Whitewater by a 19-8 margin in the second quarter.

The second half was very tightly contested, with the Warhawks outscoring the Blugolds in the final frame by a score of 13-10 to take the game.

UW-Whitewater will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Jan. 27th at Kachel Gymnasium, where they will take on UW-Platteville.