STEVENS POINT, Wis. – With a berth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship locked up, the No. 19 UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team vies for playoff seeding in a pair of home games this week.
THE BASICS
Who: UW-Platteville (5-18, 2-10 WIAC) at No. 19 UW-Stevens Point (17-6, 8-4 WIAC)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 17 – 7 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Berg Gym
Who: UW-La Crosse (7-16, 1-11 WIAC) at No. 19 UW-Stevens Point (17-6, 8-4 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Feb. 20 – 3 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Berg Gym – Senior Day
FOLLOW THE GAMESLive videoLive statsLAST WEEKUW-Stevens Point split its two games last week, picking up a 63-51 home victory over UW-Stout on Wednesday night before being edged 59-57 at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday.
On Wednesday, UW-Stevens Point closed the game on a 13-0 run and outscored UW-Stout 21-5 in the fourth quarter to come away with a 12-point win. The Pointers trailed by as many as nine in the third quarter but held the Blue Devils to 2-for-10 shooting and forced nine turnovers in the final 10 minutes. UW-Stevens Point went to the line 21 times in the fourth quarter, making 11, while UW-Stout did not attempt a free throw in the fourth quarter.
Allie Miceli (Marseilles, IL/Ottawa Township) recorded her sixth double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds.
On Saturday, UW-Eau Claire overcame a nine-point deficit after three quarters to defeat UW-Stevens Point 59-57. The Pointers built a nine-point lead after three by outscoring the Blugolds 21-8 in the third but UW-Eau Claire controlled the fourth, outscoring UW-Stevens Point 21-10. The Blugolds used a 14-2 run over the first eight minutes of the fourth to go ahead and made enough free throws to hold on for the win.
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATSUW-Stevens Point has alternated wins and losses in its last six games going back to a 69-61 overtime win at UW-Stout on Jan. 27. The Pointers close the season with home games against the bottom two teams in the WIAC standings.
WIAC PLAY ENTERS FINAL WEEK | STANDINGS | SCHEDULE | WIAC CHAMPIONSHIPWith two games remaining in WIAC play, UW-Oshkosh and UW-River Falls are tied atop the conference with 10-2 records. The Falcons hold the inside track to the No. 1 seed by virtue of winning the first meeting with the Titans but the two teams play in River Falls on Saturday.
UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater are tied for third with 8-4 records in league play and the Pointers hold the tiebreaker by virtue of sweeping the Warhawks. UW-Eau Claire is two games behind UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater with two games remaining.
The Pointers will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed for the six-team WIAC Championship, which begins on Tuesday, Feb. 23. With two wins, UWSP will be locked into the No. 3 seed ahead of UW-Whitewater. Even with two losses, UW-Stevens Point holds the tiebreaker over UW-Eau Claire for the No. 4 seed thanks to a win over UW-River Falls.
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGEUW-Stevens Point is 7-2 at home this season after Wednesday's victory over UW-Stout. The team's two home losses have come to nationally-ranked teams St. Thomas and UW-Oshkosh by a combined five points.
The Pointers are 101-19 (.842) at home since the start of the 2007-08 season, including a mark of 58-11 (.841) in conference games.
TWIN ACTSaturday's game at UW-Eau Claire marked the first time that twins
Mickey Roland (New London, WI/New London) and
Lexi Roland (New London, WI/New London) were both in double figures in scoring in the same game in their collegiate careers. Lexi had 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including two three-pointers, while Mickey scored 10 on 3-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-3 at the line. The game was the 50th in each of their UWSP careers.
IN THE POLLS | D3HOOPS.COM POLLUW-Stevens Point is ranked No. 19 in the country this week by D3hoops.com and is ranked for the seventh consecutive week. The Pointers are one of four WIAC teams ranked in the top 20 this week.
ABOUT UW-PLATTEVILLE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATSUW-Platteville has lost its last four conference games and comes to town with a 5-18 overall record. The Pioneers are 2-10 in WIAC play with both wins coming over UW-La Crosse. UW-Platteville is just 1-8 in road games this season.
Last week, the Pioneers lost to a pair of ranked WIAC opponents, going down 85-58 at No. 19 UW-Whitewater on Wednesday and 75-59 at home to No. 17 UW-River Falls on Saturday. On Wednesday, the Warhawks ran out to a 24-11 lead after a quarter and led by at least nine the rest of the way. The Pioneers hung with the Falcons on Saturday until UW-River Falls went on a 17-4 run midway through the second half to pull away.
UW-Platteville leads the WIAC in rebounding (43.8 per game) and blocked shots (5.1 per game) this season. Freshman center Allison Prestegaard, who checks in at 6'4", leads the team in both categories, averaging 6.7 rebounds and a WIAC-best 2.9 blocks in just 17.9 minutes a game.
Junior center Elisa Bilderback leads UW-Platteville in scoring at 12.8 points a game and also contributes 5.7 rebounds an outing. Freshman guard Morgan Horstman is averaging 10.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-high 2.2 assists per game.
ABOUT UW-LA CROSSE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATSUW-La Crosse enters the week with an overall record of 7-16 and a 1-11 mark in the WIAC after three consecutive setbacks to top-25 teams. The Eagles host UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday before coming to Berg Gym on Saturday and are just 1-8 on the road this season.
Last week, UW-La Crosse dropped two games to top-15 conference foes. On Wednesday, the Eagles fell 67-49 to No. 15 UW-River Falls as the Falcons went on a 15-2 run in the third quarter to build an 18-point advantage and led by at least 17 for the entire fourth quarter. It was a similar story for UW-La Crosse on Saturday, as the Eagles fell behind No. 13 UW-Oshkosh 30-14 and got no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
The Eagles average the third-most rebounds in the WIAC on a per-game basis (40.5) and are third in the conference in assists per game (12.4).
Junior center MaKenzie Miller leads UW-La Crosse in both scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg) and her 8.2 boards a game rank second to Miceli in the WIAC. Elise DeNoyer adds 9.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game, while Rachel Atchison contributes 9.0 points a game and has a team-high 29 three-pointers.
THE COACHESShirley Egner is in her 27th season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and is the all-time winningest coach in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) history with a 505-218 (.698) career record, making her the 17th Division III women's basketball coach with 500 career victories. Over the last 14 seasons, Egner has guided the Pointers to a 319-87 record, the best mark of any WIAC team over that span. She is a four-time WIAC Coach of the Year honoree, a three-time Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III Women's Coach of the Year (2010-12) was inducted into the WBCA Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2001-02, Egner led the Pointers to the national title and a 30-3 record to become just the eighth team in Division III history to win 30 games in a season.
UW-Stevens Point alum Megan Wilson is in her sixth season as the head coach at UW-Platteville and is 52-98 through her first 150 games with the Pioneers. Wilson led the Pioneers to one of their best-ever seasons in 2013-14 with a 13-13 record and a four-place finish in the WIAC. As a player, Wilson played four seasons at UW-Stevens Point and was a member of the 2002 national championship team. She was also a two-time team captain at UWSP. Wilson spent four seasons as the recruiting coordinator at UW-Stevens Point from 2005-09 and the Pointers went 86-24 over that period.
Lois Hereen is in her 17th season as UW-La Crosse's head coach and has a career record of 209-223 (.484). Hereen has led the Eagles to six winning campaigns in the last 10 seasons, is the program's winningest coach and ranks 10th in conference history in wins. Prior to coming to UW-La Crosse, she spent two seasons as an assistant at the United States Air Force Academy, was the head coach at Saint Mary's (Minn.) for three seasons and the head coach at Division II Truman State for three years.
SERIES NOTESUW-Stevens Point holds a 56-16 lead in the all-time series versus UW-Platteville after the Pointers topped the Pioneers 67-48 for Coach Egner's 500th-career victory on Jan. 13 in Platteville. The Pioneers have won four of the last seven meetings after the Pointers won 20 in a row from 2004-13. UW-Platteville has won two of the last three contests at Berg Gym after a string of 13 consecutive UWSP home victories in the series.
UW-Stevens Point holds a 51-34 advantage in the head-to-head series with UW-La Crosse. On Jan. 23, the Pointers defeated the Eagles 55-48 in La Crosse behind a career-high 19 points from
Mickey Roland (New London, WI/New London). UW-La Crosse had won the previous two meetings after five-straight UWSP wins. UW-La Crosse's 51-41 win at Berg Gym on Jan. 28, 2015 snapped a 15-game home winning streak in the series for UW-Stevens Point.
