By Jenny Dupuis

UW-Whitewater women’s basketball defeated UW-Superior this afternoon 82-66. The ladies kept one foot in front of the opponent, leading the score throughout the entire game.

“Today we played really great defense and that’s what won this game,” freshman guard Abbie Reeves said.

With the ’Hawks holding onto the top spot in the WIAC, these last couple of games are must wins for the team. Their goal was to keep up with their accomplishments. The team had to keep their head in the game to overpower a team that previously defeated them earlier in the season.

“We lost against Superior last time,” Sam Newhouse said. “It was a huge win for us. We knew coming into it we had to work hard to overcome that loss.”

The game was not all glitter and roses, as the referees proved to be influencing the game negatively for the ’Hawks. The impact was inevitable, but so was the team’s desire to succeed.

“At half time we said that the referees are kind of controlling the game right now, and so we just have to play through it and play our game,” Newhouse said.

Cortney Kumerow finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks, as well as going 19 of 19 from the free throw line. Junior point guard Kaitlyn Thill shot a three-pointer that got the crowd out of their seats in the second half.

The team plans to continue these accomplishments heading into next week’s game against UW-Oshkosh, the second-place team in the WIAC standings.

“We lost there [Oshkosh], so it’s a really big game for us,” Reeves said.

The ’Hawks will play UW-Oshkosh Wednesday Feb. 13 at the Williams Center in Whitewater, Wis.