The University of Wisconsin – River Falls women’s basketball team announced its 2010 recruiting class today. It will give the Falcons a bigger presence in the frontcourt and add intensity in the backcourt. This year’s class includes eight new freshman.

“We are very excited about the new additions to the Falcon program,” said UW-River Falls Falcon Head Coach Cindy Holbrook. “The forwards bring added height and rebounding.  The guards will add playmaking ability, aggressiveness and ability to shoot the three. The versatility of the class is very good. We have players that can play multiple positions for us.  The best part of this class is that they continue the tradition of being quality people and student-athletes.”

Coach Holbrook added “We feel their individual talents will mesh well together and with our returning players, and that they will help us take another step forward in the WIAC and our bid for a NCAA tournament appearance. They come with a winning attitude as evidenced by their successful high school programs they come from. Collectively, they will help continue the positive momentum our program established with our recently completed record-setting season.”

The recruits will join a Falcon squad that has just come off its best record in over 20 years. The 2009-2010 team finished 18-7, finishing tied for third in the WIAC.  

Here is a quick summary of the 2010-2011 Freshman recruits.

Ashley Backes, Wittenberg – Birnamwood High School WI

5-8 guard, averaged about 18 ppg, 5 rbs, 3 assists and 3 steals per game

1^st team all conference, All State and WBCA All Star game

Ashley was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 43-4 over the past two years

Ashley Prather, Lakeville North High School MN

5-9 guard/ forward,  averaged about 5 ppg, 5 rbs, 2 assists and 1 steal per game

All conference honorable mention 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010

4th All time rebounder for Lakeville North

Ashley was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 32-0 this past year ending with a Minnesota State Championship and National ranking.

Erin Frase – Phillips High School WI

5-7 guard, averaged about 17 ppg, 7 rbs, 3 assists and 5 steals per game

1^st team all conference. Team MVP

Erin was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 28-14 over the past two years

Kelsey Lipinski, St Francis High School MN

5-10 forward,  averaged about 5 ppg, 8 rbs, 2 assists and 2 steals per game

Honorable mention all conference, team MIP, top rebounder

Kelsey was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 25-5 this past year with a trip to State.

Morgan Dahlke, Portage High School WI

5-10 forward, averaged about 14 ppg, 11 rbs, 3 assists and 2 steals per game

1^st team all conference, team MVP

Morgan was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 13-29 over the past two years

Sammy Doucette, Colfax High School WI

5-7 guard, averaged about 12 ppg, 2 rbs, 3 assists and 2 steals per game

1^st team all conference, team MVP, 4^nd team All Northwest (Leadertelegram), and WBCA All Star game

Sammy was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 42-6 over the past two years

Stephanie Walek, Independence High School WI

5-8 guard, averaged about 14 ppg, 4 rbs, 5 assists and 5 steals per game

1^st team all conference, team MVP, All Winona area and 2^nd team All Northwest (Leadertelegram), All State mention and WBCA All Star game

Stephanie was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 45-5 over the past two years

Tess Lueders, Stillwater  High School MN

5-10 forward,  averaged about 13 ppg, 6 rbs, 2 assists and 2 steals per game

All conference, team MVP

Tess was one of the leaders on her High school team that went 32-22 over the past two  years.

Here is the UW Falcon Womens new website.

Here are the top ten stories from the 2009-2010 season. The UW River Falls Falcon women’s basketball team went 18-7 on the year and tied for 3^rd in the WIAC. It was an exciting year with many great stories. Here are the top ten from the Falcon’s Eye View.

10-California Dreamin’. Holiday trip to Sunny California between Christmas and News Years. Team went 2-0 and visited Hollywood, the beaches, Disneyland and many other places.

9-Win over the Presidents of Washington Jefferson at the Surf City Classic in California.  The Presidents ended the year ranked #18 with a 22-3 record. The Falcons came from behind in the final minutes to claim a 63-59 win.

W&J then went on a 10-2 run win five minutes to go in the game to take a 52-44 lead.

But the Falcons scored the next four points to get back in the game. Three of the points came on a three-pointer by Tiffany Gregorich and the Falcons trailed, 54-50. After Smith hit a jumper to give her team a six point, 54-48, lead with 2:52 to go, the Falcons put on the pressure to get back in the game. UWRF scored the next five points to get within one, 54-53, with 2:06 to go. With 1:32 to play Tiffany Gregorich tied the game, 56-56, when she scored on a layup, was fouled, and made the free throw.

After W&J hit a free throw, the Falcons scored four points to take a 60-57 lead. Kelli Hilt and Tiffany Gregorich both scored on layups to give the Falcons the lead with 46 seconds to play. But W&J’s Alyssa Oursler hit a jumper with 31 seconds to play to pull her team to within one, 60-59. With 23 seconds to play Tiffany Gregorich was fouled and she made both free throws to put UWRF ahead, 62-59. The Falcon defense held and with just eight seconds to go Brittany Gregorich was fouled and she made one of two free throws to seal the victory.

Tiffany Gregorich led the Falcons with 21 points and eight rebounds. She also had three steals and two assists. Holst added 13 points and four rebounds. Tess Lardie added nine points and four rebounds. Taylor House finished with a team-high 11 rebounds and she scored seven points. House finished with six offensive rebounds.

8-Maranda Dohrn Scores 23, Rebounds 22. The Falcons whipped Platteville 57-46, but the story was about Maranda’s “Monster game”. Dohrn scored a career-high 23 points, shooting 11-15 from the field, and ripped down a career-high 22 rebounds on the night, tying the single-game record for rebounds. She also recorded one block and had only two personal fouls in the game.

This was the final WIAC game of the season. The Falcons tied for 3^rd place in the WIAC.

7-Tiffany Gregorich hit the winning bucket with just a second to go. The Falcons managed to swing a last-minute victory over Macalester College, 68-67.

Leading the front for the Falcons was Tiffany Gregorich, who finished with 19 points, two steals and three rebounds. She shot 7-8 from the field (.875). She hit the winning bucket with just one second to play.

With 1:26 to play and the Falcons trailing by 64-61, Brittany Gregorich hit two free throws to make it a one point game. With 46 seconds to go Gregorich hit a bucket to gave the Falcons a 65-64 lead. But then MC’s Jessica Rene hit a basket to give her team a one point lead with 27 seconds to play. With 15 seconds to play Tiffany Gregorich was fouled and made one of two free throws to tie the game. With just seven seconds to play MC’s Danielle Johnson was fouled. She made the first free throw, but missed the second and the Scots led, 67-66. That’s when Tiffany Gregorich hit the winning bucket with just a second to go.

6-Falcon’s 64-48 blasting over first place UW-Whitewater. The win over UWW  lifted the Falcons into second place in the WIAC standings. UWRF is just a half game behind first place UW-Stevens Point with three games to play. Dohrn finished 7-9 from the floor and 4-4 from the line to lead UWRF. Brittany Gregorich added 14 points to aid the Falcon cause. The 14 points ties her career high. Taylor House led the Falcons with nine rebounds.

The Falcons played tenacious defense the entire game and limited UWW to just 19-55 (.345) shooting from the field. UWW put on full court pressure for most the game and forced 17 Falcon turnovers. But UWRF forced 16 UWW turnovers with eight coming in each half. The Falcons dominated the boards with a 44-31 advantage. UWRF pulled down 14 offensive rebounds led by House with four.

5-Tiffany Gregorich Scores Career High 30 points as Falcons rocket the Blugolds, 83-62. Gregorich had 20 of her 30 points at the end of the first half. She shot 10-12 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line. In addition, Gregorich went 6-8 from the behind the arc, putting her in possession of the third most three pointers made in a single in UWRF women’s basketball history. She also had five rebounds and three steals.

In addition to Tiffany’s performance, Brittany Gregorich chipped in 10 points, seven boards and a block. Katie Theisen had nine points, and Kelli Hilt and Tess Lardie each recorded seven points of their own. Maranda Dohrn managed to rip down seven rebounds as well. Nikki Guhr tied with Tiffany to lead all players with three steals.

As a team, UWRF shot 31-53 (.585) from the field, 9-17 (.529) from the three-point line and 12-16 (.750) from the free throw line.

The victory puts the Falcons at 16-4 overall, 8-4 in the WIAC. They are one game out of first place (behind Stevens Point) and a half-game out of second (behind Whitewater).

4-Falcons Top Stout in OT to Remain Unbeaten at 13-0. River Falls remains undefeated as they beat UW-Stout in a thrilling overtime game, 68-65, on Wednesday night at the Karges Center.

The Falcons moved to 13-0 on the season and remained perfect in conference play moving their impressive record to 5-0. The Falcons entered the game ranked 13th in the D3hoops.com top 25 poll. UW-Stout entered the contest with a record of 7-5 and was 3-1 in the WIAC play.

The Falcons were lead by a cast of players as well. Hilt scored 10 points in this contest. Lardie scored 12 points and added six rebounds.  Maranda Dohrn had a wonderful performance earning a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Tiffany and Brittany Gregorich added nine and eight points respectively.

3-Falcons smash  No. 15 UWSP, Remain Undefeated. Ranked No. 15 in the nation, UW-Stevens Point visited the Karges Center to take on the 5-0 Falcons. The Gregorich sisters teamed up for 33 points in the Falcons 72-61 victory over the Pointers.

Tiffany Gregorich finished the night with 19 points, and Brittany Gregorich chipped in 14 points of her own. Tiffany scored 13 points in the second half, and Brittany had nine second-half points of her own. In addition, Tiffany shot 7-13 from the field, 1-3 from the three-point line and 4-4 from the free throw line. She also had a team-high three steals. Brittany shot an impresive 6-8 from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc. Lauren Pellowski and Kelli Hilt finished with 10 and nine points respectively.

With the win over the nationally ranked Pointers, the Falcons advance to 6-0 overall, leading the conference at 2-0

2-Falcons move up to #13 in D3 Hoops poll and #14 USA TODAY ESPN DIVISION III TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL. The Falcons start the year 13-0 and move up the national rankings weekly topping out at #13.

1- So many UW River Falls Falcon women’s basketball records during Record year – Falcons 18-7 overall record is the best winning percentage (72%) since the 1988-1989 season.

The 18 wins are the most since 1988-1989 season, matching the 2000-2001 team with 18 wins.

13-0 start is the best in school history.

#13 rankings highest ever for the Falcon women.

Maranda Dohrn’s 22 rebounds ties a Falcon single game record.

Tiffany Gregorich’s 30 points is one of the tops in Falcon history.

The Falcon fan attendance almost triples from the prior year.

The Frontcourt Club has record membership (first year of the Club so that was easy). Become a member now.

Summer Basketball camps best ever.

Falcon Buddies program has record participation (first year too).

Alumni weekend was special and a fun Alumni game.

The Ball Kids were the best ever always on time and very helpful to the players.

Record number of UWRF Falcon women basketball fans on Facebook. Become a fan of our team now.

Finally, this may have been a record year for players in the training room.

There you have it, the top ten moments from the 2009-2010 from the Falcon’s Eyes.

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.”

Here is a link to the article.

Week 7 women’s poll About the Top 25

Dropped out: No. 23 Howard Payne, No. 25 Emmanuel.

Others receiving votes: Lewis and Clark 32, Chicago 28, DePauw 27, Howard Payne 27, Mount Union 27, Louisiana College 20, Mary Washington 16, Cal Lutheran 7, Simpson 7, Farmingdale State 6, Emmanuel 3, Rochester 3, Western Connecticut 2, Austin 1, Baldwin-Wallace 1, Elmhurst 1, Gustavus Adolphus 1, Lebanon Valley 1, St. Norbert 1.

The D3hoops.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly.

Backcourt Club President Deb Allyn

Defeat Stout again.

USA TODAY ESPN DIVISION III TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Week 5 Poll: January 5, 2010

USA TODAY ESPN Top 25 women’s basketball poll, with first-place votes noted on the right, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th.

Dropped Out: Trinity University (Texas), Randolph-Macon College (Va.), Capital University (Ohio), Simpson College (Iowa).

Others Receiving Votes: University of Puget Sound (Wash.) – 19; Simpson College (Iowa) – 14; Louisiana College – 12; Trinity University (Texas) – 12; Lewis & Clark College (Ore.) – 9; Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.) – 5; California Lutheran University – 4; University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point – 2; Randolph-Macon College (Va.) – 1.

The USA TODAY ESPN board of coaches is made up of nine head coaches at Division III institutions. All are members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The 2009-10 board: Nan Carney-DeBord – Non-voting Chair (Ohio Wesleyan University), Amie Bradley (Trinity University), Doreen Carden (Albion College), G.P. Gromacki (Amherst College), James Scheible (University of Rochester), Michele Sharp (Kean University), Mike Strong (University of Scranton), Nancy Fahey (Washington University-St. Louis) and Suzy Barcomb (University of Puget Sound).

*Please note that all voters for the DIII poll are required to vote each week between 8 a.m. Monday and 1 p.m. Tuesday ET.

Previous Weekly Polls

Week 5 women’s poll About the Top 25

Dropped out: No. 12 Trinity (Texas), No. 23 St. Norbert, No. 24 Randolph-Macon.

Others receiving votes: Brandeis 55, Gettysburg 47, Christopher Newport 45, St. Benedict 42, Puget Sound 40, Simpson 27, Trinity (Texas) 22, Mississippi College 21, Lewis and Clark 19, St. Norbert 15, Washington and Jefferson 11, Cal Lutheran 10, Southern Maine 6, Case Western Reserve 3.

The D3hoops.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly.