MENOMONIE (February 23, 2010) – Julia Hirssig (Sr, Rochester, Minn) had 13 first half points and Tricia VanVreede (Jr, Little Chute) had 13 seconds half points as UW-Stout went past UW-River Falls, 86-70, in a quarterfinal game of the WIAC women’s basketball tournament Tuesday at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout will be at UW-Stevens Point, Thursday, Feb. 25, for a WIAC semi-final game.

The Blue Devils (16-10) used a  number of runs to push past the Falcons (18-7)  in the first half. Stout broke a 9-9 tie at 15:26 of the first half and shot off to a 22-9 lead five minutes later. Kayla Crowley (Fr, McFarland) had five points in the run and VanVreede and Cody VanDenHeuvel (So, Cadott) each dropped in a 3-point bucket.

Stout closed out the half on a 9-0 run over the final 3:56 of the half with Kim Stokke (Sr, Menomonie) scoring four points in the run.

The Falcons, the fifth seeded team in the tournament to Stout’s fourth seed, fell behind by as much as 31 points midway through the second half.  River Falls did cut the lead to as little as 15 points with two minutes left, but a pair of free throws by Hirssig, a free throw by Stokke and a jumper by Brittany Gerber (Jr, Bruce) pushed the lead back up to 20 points with a minute left.

Hirssig led all scorers with 20 points and nine rebounds and matched a career-high four assists. VanVreede scored a career-high 19 points and had eight rebounds. Stokke and Kayla Windt(Fr, Pence) each tallied eight points and Crowley finished with seven points. The Blue Devils drained 32-of-42 free throws on the night. VanVreede was 8-of-10 from the line and Hirssig was 8-of-12.

The Falcons had four players in double figures. Alise Holst and Brittany Gregorich each had 13 points, while Kelli Hilt and Katie Theisen finished with 11 points.

Hirssig’s 20 points pushed her career total to 1706 points, only the second UW-Stout basketball player, male or female, to score more than 1700 points. Cal Glover scored 1729 career points for the Blue Devil men in the early 1970s.

The Falcon women’s basketball team lost a 86-70 decision at UW-Stout in the first round of the WIAC Tournament on Tuesday night.

Stout took control of the game early, played solid defense, and shot well to get the win. The Falcons did not shoot well in the game which hurt their chances.

The first five minutes of the first half were close with the score tied, 9-9, with 15:26 to play when UWRF’s Brittany Gregorich hit a jumper. But from there Stout went on a 13-0 run to take a 22-9 lead with 11 minutes to play. The Blue Devils hit three straight three pointers during the run.

The Falcons got the lead back down to single digits when Tiffany Gregorich hit a three with 9:12 to play. But then Stout hit another three to put the Blue Devils lead back to 12, 27-15, with 8:20 to play. With 5:39 to play UWRF’s Jenna Hanson hit a jumper to pull the Falcons to within 10, 30-20. With 1:41 to play UWS opened up an 18 point, 40-22 lead when Tricia VanVreede hit a jumper, was fouled, and made the free throw to complete a three-point play. Stout added one more bucket later to take a 42-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Tiffany Gregorich led the Falcons with five first half points. Brittany Gregorich, Maranda Dohrn and Alise Holst all scored four. UWRF shot just 8-26 (.308) from the field, including 1-5 (.200) from behind the arc. They were 5-8 from the line. Julia Hirrsig led UWS with 13 points; she was a perfect 4-4 from the field. VanVreede added six points. UWS shot 14-27 (.519) from the field, including 4-7 (.571) from three-point range. Stout finished 10-15 at the line. UWRF had a 14-13 advantage in rebounds.

UWS started the second half on a 6-0 run to take a 48-22 lead with 17:27 to play. But baskets by UWRF’s Holst and Hanson cut the lead to 48-26 with 16:05 to go. Stout opened up a 30 point, 58-28, lead with 13:11 to go when VanVreede hit two free throws.

But the Falcons played hard over the next few minutes going on an 11-0 run. UWRF got back to within 18 points, 67-49, with 8:49 to play when Katie Theisen hit a layup, was fouled and finished the three-point play.

With just under 10 minutes to play the Falcons got a three from Brittany Gregorich to cut the UWS lead to 25 and make it a 67-42 game. The Falcons kept playing hard and with 5:02 to play trailed by 17, 75-58, when Brittany Gregorich hit two free throws. With 2:15 to play Kelli Hilt completed a three-point play to get the Falcons to within 15, 81-66. But that’s as close as the Falcons could get on this night.

Holst and Brittany Gregorich led the Falcons with 13 points each. Hilt and Theisen each scored 11. Hilt also led the Falcons with three assists and she tied for the lead with three steals. Holst and Dohrn led UWRF with seven rebounds. The Falcons shot 24-66 (.364) from the field and 3-15 (.200) from behind the arc. They were 19-32 (.594) from the line.

Hirssig led UWS with 20 points and nine rebounds. VanVreede was second with 19 points and eight rebounds. Stout shot 25-49 (.510) from the field, including 4-9 (.444) from three-point range. They were 32-42 ( 7.62) from the line. Stout had a slight, 41-39, advantage in rebounds.

The Falcons end their season with a 18-7 record.

Box Score

The Falcon women’s basketball team has qualified for the WIAC Tournament and will open play on Tuesday at UW-Stout. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.

The Falcons finished the regular season with an 18-6 overall record. UWRF finished 10-6 in the WIAC and tied with UW-La Crosse and Stout for third place. But after a series a tie breakers, La Crosse earned the No. 3 seed, Stout No. 4 and the Falcons No. 5. UW-Whitewater has the No. 1 seed and UW-Stevens Point is No. 2. UW-Eau Claire has the sixth seed.

The Falcons and Blue Devils split in the two games the team played this year. Both teams won on their home court. On Jan. 6 the Falcons took a 68-65 win in overtime at the Karges Center. On Jan. 23 Stout took an 80-67 win in Menomonie.

Guard Tiffany Gregorich leads the Falcons averaging 14.2 points a game. Her sister, Brittany, averages eight points a game and Maranda Dohrn averages seven. Dohrm had a career-best game on Saturday in the team’s 57-46 win at UW-Platteville. She scored 23 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. The 22 rebounds ties the Falcon single game record.

Dohrn is a team’s leading rebounder averaging 7.1 a game. Brittany Gregorich is second with a 5.1 average. Tiffany Gregorich leads the team with 56 assists and Alise Holst leads UWRF with 47 steals. Dohrn leads the team with 20 blocks and Taylor House has 19. The Falcons average about 42 rebounds a game – about eight more per contest than their opponents.

UWS finished the regular season with a 15-10 overall record. Julia Hirssig, a 2009 WIAC Player of the Year finalist, leads the Blue Devils averaging 21.1 points a game. She has led Stout in scoring in all but five games this season. She is the league’s leading scorer. Kim Stokke is second in scoring averaging 11 points per contest.

Hirssig is also the top rebounder averaging 10.5 per game. She is second in the WIAC in rebounding. Hirssig leads Stout with 44 steals and Stokke leads with 83 assists.

Stout averages 74.4 points and 40.3 rebounds a game.

In the other first round game, Eau Claire will travel to La Crosse on Tuesday. The two winners from Tuesday’s games will advance to the WIAC semifinals and those games will be played Thursday. Whitewater will host the lowest remaining seeded team and Stevens Point will host the highest remaining seeded team. The WIAC championship game is slated for Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seeded team.

We hope to see many of you at the Game.