Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 18, 2017 – The No. 10-ranked Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season, falling to the Paul F. Knueppel Classic tournament host Wisconsin Lutheran College 63-50 Saturday evening in the Recreation Complex.

The Bears fall to 1-1 on the year while the Warriors pick up their first win to improve to 1-1 during the opening weekend of play. WashU outscored Lutheran 24-14 in the paint but the Warriors outrebounded the Bears 41-25.

Junior Stephanie Botkin led the Bears with 13 points while junior Madeline Homoly was the lone other WashU member to contribute double-figures with 10 points. Junior Rachael Sondag notched five assists for a new personal-best while also tying her career-high with three steals.

WashU finished 20-of-58 from the field for a 34.5-percent success rate while Wisconsin Lutheran shot 42.9-percent on 21-of-49 shooting. Despite a 22-15 edge in the turnover battle, WashU was outscored 16-9 in points off turnovers.

Neither offense was able to get much going in the first quarter of play as Wisconsin Lutheran led 12-7 after 10 minutes of play and the trend continued in the second quarter. Nearly two minutes passed without a basket before junior Becca Clark-Callender's three-pointer assisted by Sondag preceded a triple from Sondag to give WashU a 13-12 advantage.

The score remained tight and almost headed to overtime tied up at 22-all after junior Caroline Ballard's layup with 23 seconds knotted the score. However, Tierney Woodward of Wisconsin Lutheran hit a last second three-pointer to put the Warriors ahead 25-22 at the break.

Wisconsin Lutheran outscored WashU 12-8 in the third quarter but WashU quickly worked its way within two points in the fourth. Homoly converted a layup before Botkin sank a trey to trim the Warrior lead to 37-35. The Bears sent Wisconsin Lutheran to the free-throw 12 times in the final 1:38 of play as the Warriors converted 10 from the charity stripe to pull away for the 63-50 victory. 

The leading scorers for the Warriors were Caitlin Knueppel (18) and Jen Dowden (17), while Kelly Tramburg finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Bears return to action Saturday, Nov. 25 against No. 25-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University at 2 p.m. in the Midwest Challenge hosted by DePauw University. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Bears scores and awards by following @WashUBears on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.