RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Making its fifth conference tournament appearance in six seasons, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball team exited the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) after a defensive battle which ended 42-40 in favor of UW-River Falls on Monday Night in Don Page Arena.
The Pioneers (18-8) entered the tournament as the #5 seed and made their second four-plus hour drive in three days to #4 seed UW-River Falls (16-10).
UW-Platteville started the night on a 9-0 run with scores by four different Pioneers, but that would be the largest lead either team would hold in the closely contested matchup.
The Falcons used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 30-28 lead at halftime, and that two-point advantage would turn out to be the key to advancing twenty minutes later. In total, both teams held each other to 12 points apiece across the entire second half.
A great move in the paint by senior
Ella Mackiewicz with 3:43 on the clock tied the game at 40, but the Falcons answered with a layup of their own to regain the lead with 3:13 to go. Mackiewicz grabbed a defensive rebound off the Falcons' final shot with 17 seconds on the clock and a timeout called allowed the Pioneers to set up one final attempt to tie or win. Mackiewicz was able to fire off two three-point looks thanks to a rebound by senior
Ashley Weir, but neither fell before the clock ran out.
Mackiewicz finished with a team-high eight points and was one of four players to pull down six rebounds including
Ashley Weir, junior
Tatum Weir, and senior
Barb Kling.
In all the Pioneers shot 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the floor, including 20 percent (3-of-15) from deep.
The Falcons shot 32.6 percent (15-of-46) from the field, but were 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
Both teams finished 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from the foul line.
UW-Platteville will now wait until Monday, March 2, to learn if they receive one of the 21 at-large bids to the NCAA DIII Tournament. The selection show is scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m. CST.
