It seems almost whoever UW-Stevens Point turned to off the bench on Wednesday delivered as the Pointers' reserves combined for 47 points to lead the team to a 76-65 women's basketball win at UW-Platteville.

The Pointers had three bench players in double figures and held UW-Platteville's bench to a combined two points in the victory. The win keeps UW-Stevens Point in fourth place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a 17-6 overall record and 9-6 league mark. UW-Platteville fell to 9-15 overall and 3-12 in the WIAC.

Janell Van Gomple (DeForest/DeForest) led the Pointers with 16 points off the bench, while Jessi Sporle (Mineral Point/Mineral Point) had a big all-around game with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Haley Houghton (Wausau/Wausau East) scored 14 points in a reserve role, while Chelsea Kranz (Columbus/Columbus) led the starters with 14 points. UW-Platteville's Liz Tesch led all scorers with 26 points.

The Pointers took an early 13-6 lead and led the entire game. UW-Stevens Point was ahead 22-16 with nine minutes left and neither team scored for nearly four minutes before the Pointers finally pulled away with a 10-0 run. Van Gomple and Sporle combined for nine of the points and UW-Platteville went until the 2:46 mark until finally scoring. The Pioneers didn't get another field goal until a three-pointer by Lisa Wubben with 33 seconds left. Houghton added a basket in the closing seconds to give the Pointers a 36-21 halftime cushion.

UW-Stevens Point opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt for a 20-point lead at 43-23, holding the Pioneers to one field goal over the first 6:26 of the half. UW-Platteville crawled to within 52-43 with 9:29 remaining, but Sporle hit back-to-back field goals and Houghton capped a 17-4 run with a three-pointer for a 69-47 advantage with 5:52 remaining.

UW-Stevens Point led 73-50 with four minutes remaining, but the Pioneers used a late 15-1 run to tighten the final margin.

The Pointers shot 57.4 percent from the field and held UW-Platteville to 35.6 percent shooting, though the Pioneers were 21-for-23 at the free throw line.