WHITEWATER, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team (4-8, 0-1) saw a six-point first quarter deficit turn into a 67-55 defeat at UW-Whitewater (8-4, 1-0) to open league play on Wednesday.
 
Junior Carly Cerrato (De Pere, Wis./De Pere) led the Pointers with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting from behind the arc.  She added five boards, a block and a steal.
 
Freshman Amber Baehman (Plainfield, Wis. /Tri-County) scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Cerrato hit her first triple of the game just over a minute in to give the Pointers a 3-2 lead.  Following a free throw, she hit another three to account for the first seven points of the game for UWSP.  Taylor Greenheck (Sauk Prairie, Wis./Sauk Prairie) buried a three to give the Pointers a 12-11 lead, but the Warhawks finished the quarter on a 9-2 run.
 
Baehman scored the Pointers' first seven points of the second quarter, but the Warhawks extended the lead to 10 at 31-21.  Erin Moran (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) scored four points and Olivia Pawlak (Lindenhurst, Ill./Lakes Community) added a bucket, but UWSP trailed 37-26 at the half.
 
Kellan Schmidt (Edgerton, Wis./Edgerton) and Bailee Collins (Milton, Wis./Milton) scored four points each early in the third and Cerrato pulled UWSP to within 41-35 midway through the quarter.  Cerrato nailed another three as UWSP got within five, but the Warhawks led, 47-40, heading to the fourth.
 
Brooke Geier (Kewaunee, Wis./Kewaunee) drilled a three-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth, but a 9-3 run by UWW to begin the quarter put the deficit at 12, 55-43.  Geier scored four more points in the quarter and Greenheck nailed a three in the final minute to close out the scoring.
 
The Pointers face UW-River Falls on Saturday in first home conference game of the season.  Tip-off at Berg Gym is set for 3:00 p.m.