The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team honored their two seniors in their last home game of the regular season, picking up a big 57-37 victory over WIAC rival, UW-River Falls.
On saturday afternoon Seniors Riley Stewart and Andrea Olsen took part in their last regular season game inside Whitewater’s own, Kachel Gymnasium. Stewart stepped up with the pressure on her, pouring in 11 points while shooting a blistering 3/4 from behind the arc.
For Olsen it was a much different night. This offseason Olsen suffered a season ending injury before it had even begun. Although she wasn’t able to get on the court she still may have had the most astonishing performance of the night as she had the honor of singing the national anthem before the game.
The game started off slow for both teams as neither were able to get any type of momentum until River Falls standout, Taylor Karge, was forced to sit out all but two minutes of the first half after getting into early foul trouble.
From there on It was a dominating performance by the Warhawks on both sides of the ball.
UW-Whitewater student radio Color Commentator, Jake Schoen, said, “Malia [Smith] and Riley [Stewart] really put the pressure on with that full court press. There were times when River Falls couldn’t even get the ball past half court man.”
Coach Keri Carollo really wanted to set the tone early, getting the girls into a trapping full-court press to force as many turnovers as they could. Smith finished the game with seven steals, sophomore Olivia Freckman notched four, and Stewart ended with two. The Final Box Score can be found here UW-W vs UW-RF Box Score.
In addition to it being senior night UW-Whitewater took part in the nationwide Play4Kay effort for breast cancer awareness. All players as well as the many fans who made generous donations sported pink shirts to show their support. All the proceeds of the donations will go to the fight for finding a cure. A link to donate money the Kay Yow Foundation can be found here Kate Yow Cancer Fund donation.
The Lady Warhawks will finish up regular season play in the upcoming week with two WIAC matchups against 1st play UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday and UW-Eau Claire on Saturday.