The Warhawk women’s basketball team executed an offensive slaughter in a statement win against the Augustana Vikings, Wednesday, Dec. 7 at Kachel Gymnasium. Whitewater hit 12 3-pointers and shot over 50% from the field in their 92-64 victory. 

Early on it became clear that Aleah Grundahl was the number one concern on the Augustana scouting report. Each time Grundahl touched the ball in the paint, three defenders would swarm the All-American forward, leaving the offense to run through the guards on the perimeter.

“We know that she is going to draw a lot of attention and then for her to be strong enough to handle the three people around her slapping on her arms and be able to kick it out and find open shooters is impressive in itself,” head coach Keri Carollo said. “Then our shooters have to be ready for their shots and once we hit a couple everyone just hops on that momentum wagon.”

Fortunately for the Warhawks, it was almost impossible to miss from deep, Whitewater hit their first five attempts from three, each one coming from a different player. Kacie Carollo scored 11 in the first quarter and hit three of her four attempts from 3-point range. The team totalled seven 3-pointers on eight attempts, which gave them a 73% field goal percentage and a 31-13 lead going into the second quarter.

Whitewater never looked back as they continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the game. 11 different Warhawks scored points in the contest including Logan Lowry and Sydney Lehman who each recorded their first career points. Carollo led the Warhawks with 21 points, followed by Maggie Trautsch who had 14 and Mallory Oloffson with 12.

“I think our success today came from everyone contributing in the best way that they could,” Kacie Carollo said. “We have been having people have great games and other people having okay games up to this point, but I think today everyone just did the best they could.”

Several of the Warhawks reserve players were able to come off the bench in the fourth quarter of the team’s blowout performance. A number of the players saw the floor for the first time this season, and were able to gain valuable game time experience.

“Depth is always what we’re about and is what gives us that balance. It is a long year and crazy things can happen so we want to be able to play ten or twelve people so that we can have fresh legs out on the floor,” coach Carollo said. “It is also good for us to see how our younger players handle gametime situations.”

Besides the coaching benefits of less experienced players getting the opportunity to see the floor in a real game, it is a special moment for the whole team as well.

“They work everyday on the scout team and bust their butt to beat us and make us the best we can be,” Kacie Carollo said. “So then for them to get those opportunities on the court makes the entire team so excited and so happy for them.”

But despite the Warhawks lopsided win, the team is not settling and knows they are capable of more than what they have shown so far this season. 

“We busted our butt to get this win, but we are still hungry. We have bigger goals than just this one home game,” Kacie Carollo said. 

After they have improved their record to 7-2 the fourteenth ranked Warhawks will take on the University of Chicago on the road next Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m.