Women’s college basketball: Altoona natives help UW-River Falls exceed expectations

Posted: Monday, February 8, 2010 11:00 pm | Updated: 11:28 pm, Mon Feb 8, 2010.

By Justin Harings Leader-Telegram staff

“We just have a pretty well-balanced team,” UW-River Falls coach Cindy Holbrook said. “I expected a lot out of us this year.”

By anyone’s standards, she’s getting it. Thanks in part to a group of former Altoona standouts, the Falcons (17-4, 9-4) are second in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, trailing preseason favorite UW-Stevens Point by a half-game with two weeks to play.

If the Falcons can hold steady, they will earn their best finish since winning back-to-back WIAC championships in 1987-’88 and 1988-’89. They have placed third three times since winning those titles but not higher.

“We have a lot of athletic girls,” sophomore guard Tiffany Gregorich said. “I think our main thing is defense.”

Gregorich, who was one of the area’s best prep players before graduating from Altoona, has been a centerpiece since stepping onto campus. She led the Falcons in scoring as a freshman and received honorable mention all-WIAC. Her 15.5 points per game this season are third-best in the league and lead a team that returns every player who started a game last year.

She has been partially supported by five freshmen, including her younger sister, Brittany. The 5-foot-9 forward is third on the team in scoring (7.7 ppg) and second in rebounding (4.7 rpg). The Gregoriches’ contributions emphasize the promise of a team that has but five upperclassmen on the roster.

“It’s a fun year,” Tiffany Gregorich said. “Yeah, we’re young, but we can also learn.”

The Falcons, who were picked to finish sixth by the conference’s sports information directors after finishing last year in that position, have stood at or near the top all season. They won their first 13 games and were ranked nationally by both d3hoops.com and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association until losing four of five games during a January hiccup. They still were receiving votes in both polls.

“Our sophomores have been really up and down,” said Holbrook, who took over in 2000 and has the second-most wins in program history. “They’ve been unpredictable. There’s no question about it. But we have a good basketball team.”

The victories are coming again now. The Falcons have won three consecutive games, including a rare victory at UW-Eau Claire’s Zorn Arena on Wednesday and a 64-48 statement victory over UW-Whitewater last weekend. They travel to leader UW-Stevens Point for a critical game at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Falcons beat the Pointers at home in December.

“During January, we just kind of dropped our defense a lot,” Tiffany Gregorich said. “We practice on it all the time now. Hopefully, that keeps going.”

Instead of fighting just to gain entrance to the six-team WIAC tournament at the end of this month, the Falcons are contending for one of two first-round byes. They have never played in the championship game of the conference tournament, dating back to 1999.

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the Falcons’ progress is their reluctancy to focus on anything but the present. The longer the Falcons keep playing this season, the better the chance that senior guard Jenna Hanson can return from an injury and finish her collegiate career on the court.

“If we keep going, then she can come back and play for us still,” said Tiffany Gregorich, a friend of Hanson’s dating back to their time at Altoona. “It’d be nice to do it for our seniors because they’ve been here for four years.”

Soon enough, even the youngest Falcons will be on the other end of that sentiment. But not too soon.

“We’ve got a bright future,” Holbrook said. “There’s no question about it. We’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

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