PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – After playing the past two weekends at home, the No. 11 Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team traveled north to Wisconsin to take on the Pioneers of UW-Platteville. In another tough match up, the Bears fell 69-54 on the road in Saturday afternoon contest at Williams Fieldhouse.
Graduate Jessica Brooks led all scorers with a game-high 18 points along with eight rebounds. Sophomore Lexy Harris was second on the Bears with 12 points and five rebounds.
WashU secured the tip-off before UWP jumped out to a quick six point lead just over a minute into the contest. The Pioneers were able to push their lead up to 10 by the halfway point through the first quarter.
A layup by Brooks with 41 seconds left in the period cut the lead down to nine as WashU trailed 21-12 after the first 10 minutes.
Neither team could find the basket for over two minutes to start the second quarter before a three pointer by Brooks cut the lead down to six, 21-15. The teams would trade points, nearly basket-for-basket with UWP leading by as many as 11 with 2:12 left in the half.
A three by first-year Ava Blagojevich with 1:16 on the clock cut the deficit down to eight. However, the home team would score the final five points of the half, leading 36-23 as the teams headed to the locker room.
Most of the third quarter looked much like the second as the teams traded points with the Bears cutting the lead back down to single digits on two occasions. The Pioneers would also repeat the ending of the period, scoring the final eight points for a 52-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
It was in the fourth quarter that the Bears outscored UWP, 19-17 but were not able to get back within single digits before the Pioneers settled in for a 69-54 win over WashU.
The Bears led in both points in the paint (32-20) and fast break points (6-4).
WashU stays on the road for their next game, but returns to St. Louis on Tuesday, Dec. 10 when it travels to nearby Fontbonne for a non-conference doubleheader with the men's teams. The women's contest gets underway at 6 p.m. with the men following at 8 p.m.
