By Kevin Cunningham

The free throw line has been a comfortable place for the Warhawks women’s basketball team all season long. For the ’Hawks, the second half of an 80-71 victory over UW-Superior in the WIAC semifinal on Friday proved just that.

In the first half, the team attempted one free throw. In the second half, the team shot 31 of them. The shot is called a “free throw” for a reason, and it’s no coincidence that the conference’s leading scoring team has been able to call the charity stripe its home.

“We want to try and get to the rim as much as we can,” head coach Keri Carollo said. “It was important for us to try to get into those gaps against the zone. I think that Superior got a little tired and that had something to do with it as well.”

Despite the abundance of free throws attempts, the ’Hawks were out-shot from the field in both 3-point shooting and overall field goal percentage for the game. The team didn’t break away from the Yellowjackets until quickly after halftime. The ’Hawks started the second half on a 9-0 run, propelling them to a 44-30 lead with just over 17:00 remaining.

The 1-seeded Warhawks never look back, as the closest the Yellowjackets would come after the run would be within six points. Senior center Cortney Kumerow led the ’Hawks with 19 points and nine rebounds in the win. Junior point guard Kaitlyn Thill also led the team with seven assists, five of which came in the first half.

With UW-Stevens Point defeating UW-Oshkosh 59-50 in the other WIAC semifinal, the ’Hawks host the Pointers at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24 in Kachel Gymnasium. One player to look for on the Pointers is senior guard Sam Barber. Barber leads the conference in scoring, averaging 18.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game to go along with her 42.6 percent 3-point shooting percentage.

This will be the fourth consecutive matchup between the ’Hawks and the Pointers for the postseason WIAC championship, with the first three going the Pointers’ way.