UW-Whitewater’s women’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 74-62 victory over UW-La Crosse on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The Warhawks started off a win streak as they beat UW-River Falls on the road Saturday, Feb. 15. The team is now 7-5 in conference play and sports a 17-6 overall record.
In their game vs La Crosse Whitewater jumped out to a quick 19-3 lead and never looked back. They played tight defense the entire night, forcing multiple shot clock violations by La Crosse. The Warhawks finished the game with 21 forced turnovers and 24 points scored off of those turnovers.
Head coach Keri Carollo credited the team’s energy, effort, and focus throughout the game. She emphasized how critical it was to get out to an early lead and set the tone for the game.
“Getting out to that early lead with great pressure jumpstarts us to play downhill and aggressive defensively,” Keri Carollo said. “It transitions into easier opportunities on the offensive end, which alleviates a little bit of pressure on us to try to score under pressure.”
Keri Carollo highlighted Maggie Trautsch and Kacie Carollo as players who stood out from the win, as they filled up the stat sheet and controlled the floor.
“If you take away the points, rebounds, and all of those things, it’s the presence that these two have on the court. They command execution and the expectations of their teammates. They have high basketball IQ and are able to outperform their opponents,” Keri Carollo said.
Trautsch had her season high in points, scoring 18 on 8-14 shooting. She also grabbed seven rebounds and had three blocks. However, her only focus is winning.
“I don’t really care about that, I just want to win the game. As long as we’re winning, I’m happy,” Trautsch said.
Kacie Carollo led the team in scoring with 24 points while adding five rebounds and four assists. She was perfect from the free throw line, going 7-7 and knocking down a few clutch shots to keep the game out of reach.
As the season progresses, the minutes accumulated can start to wear on players. Kacie Carollo and Trautsch led the Warhawks in minutes played vs La Crosse, tallying 32 and 35 minutes, respectively. Kacie Carollo knows that the players are in good hands.
“We give a lot of credit to John [Schimenz], our strength and conditioning coach. We do so much conditioning in the first few months of the school year to get prepared for the season. I also give coach [Carollo] a lot of credit. She does a really good job of managing us during practice. Past that, it’s just mental. You have to mentally get over the physical fatigue and want to win the game more than you want to rest,” Kacie Carollo said.
Keri Carollo acknowledged that playing on the road in the WIAC is tough, and it can be tough to crawl back into games. Coming out strong and aggressive is key to success. That will be essential as two of the last three games of the regular season will be on the road, the Warhawks got that stretch started off on the right foot with a 20 point win at River Falls. The players want to set the tone early in these games and leave it all on the court.
“We only have three games left now, so we have to give everything for each game because it’s coming to an end soon. We need to win these games to make a run in the conference tournament,” Trautsch said.
Whitewater looks to finish the regular season strong and secure a good seeding for the WIAC tournament. They are currently third in the conference but are just one game ahead of UW-Stevens Point.
The Warhawks will travel to Platteville Feb. 19 to take on UW-Platteville before finishing the regular season at home against UW-Eau Claire Feb. 22.
