By Justin St. Peter

A WIAC title is a very real possibility for the Warhawks women’s basketball team, who won a highly-contested game against the No. 15 ranked (according to NCAA.com) UW-Stevens Point Pointers 65-59 last night. The win made the ‘Hawks sweep the season series against the Pointers and ties the ‘Hawks with UW-Superior with an 8-2 WIAC record.

“It’s not too hard to get too pumped up for Stevens Point; it’s one of the biggest games of the year,” said senior center Steff Glynn.

Glynn was a huge part of the `Hawks’ run as she came in after star center Courtney Kumerow was mired in foul trouble. Glynn had a career high eight points and three rebounds.

Freshman forward Lisa Palmer nearly had a double double with eight points and 11 rebounds. ‘Hawks junior point guard Kaitlyn Thill added 14 points and fellow guard Mary Merg contributed 11 points and 4 steals.

WIAC scoring leader, Sam Barber, struggled from the field but managed to get 19 points on 6-20 shooting with nine rebounds for the Pointers. Liz Althoff poured in 11 points and five rebounds for the visiting Pointers, who saw their 10-game win streak snapped.

The ‘Hawks trailed 28-20 at the half, but went on a 15-5 run to open up the second half to tie the game at 33.

“I really felt like the first half, we were playing scared, almost intimidated a little bit,” head coach Keri Carollo said. “I told them at halftime, you have nothing to lose, you beat them on their floor, (and) you were down by more than this on their floor.”

The game seesawed after the run to tie the game before Sam Barber completed a four point play. The ‘Hawks’ bench was called for a technical foul and Althoff made one of two free throws to put the Pointers up 50-45. From there, it was all UW-W.

The ‘Hawks hope to ride this momentum to their next game at UW-Eau Claire 5 pm on Saturday.

“I’ve always wanted to have a special season for this group because they are a really special team,” Carollo said. “I am hoping we are getting hot at the right time of the year.”