Warhawk women hold off Stevens Point 58-55

What a week for the UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team. Keri Carollo’s krew knocked off Eau Claire last Saturday and went on the road and stunned UW-Stevens Point 58-55 at Berg Gym.

The Hawks started slow by not scoring in the first 2:26 of the game. The funk ended with Whitewater going on a 13 to 2 run to take a 13-4 lead with 12:36 left in the 1^st half. They would take a 30-24 lead into the locker room at half time.

Point opened the second half on fire, reeling off a 16-2 bulge that put UW-SP up 40-32 with 13:19 on the clock.  Senior center Cortney Kumerow's basket in the lane cut the lead to 42-41, and at the 7:52 mark junior guard Mary Merg tied the game with a fastbreak layup.  Katie Burton put UW-W in front 46-44, and the Warhawks' lead inched up to 57-48 on a layup by junior guard Kaitlyn Thill. 

Point made one final run. The Pointer’s Sam Barber hit a three with 0:41 left in the game to pull the Pointers within two, 57-55. 

Mary Merg sealed the deal for Whitewater by hitting 1 of 2 free throws to give the Warhawks the 58-55 victory.

Courtny Kumerow led the Hawks with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Katie Burton added 9 and 8 rebounds while Lisa Palmer chipped in with 8 points and 7 boards.

Point’s Myranda Tyler took game honors with 17 points. Senior guard Sam Barber added 10 points and nine boards for the Pointers.

With the win, Whitewater is takes over first place in the WIAC at 4 & 0 a game up on Superior. Point falls to 1 & 2 in the conference.

UW-Whitewater will participate in a tournament hosted by Hope College (MI) Friday and Saturday.  The Warhawks will face Kalamazoo College at 4:30 Friday and matchup with host Hope College at 2:00 Saturday.  The next home game for the Warhawks will be January 9 at 7:00 with UW-Platteville visiting Kachel Gym in Williams Center.

Point hands Warhawks 72-61 loss at Kachel

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team faced an old nemesis Wednesday night as UW-Stevens Point came calling to Kachel Gymnasium and left with a dominating 72-61 win in front of 1520 fans.

The Pointers and Warhawks were tied 30-30 early in the second half. That’s when Point went on a 12-0 run. The Warhawks never got within 10 points the rest of the way.  

The Pointers won the game despite losing Tyler Tillema to an upper right ankle injury in the final minute of the first half. The Preseason All-American did not return.

On the ensuing possession Whitewater freshman Darnell Harris banged home a three-pointer to pull the Warhawks within two at 30-28 at halftime.

There were eleven lead changes and three ties in the first half. Despite the low score at the half, UW-W shot 57% from the floor and Point hit 54% of its shots.

Playing without its leading scorer, Point’s Trevor Haas scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to key the Pointer’s second half domination. Austin Ryf matched Haas’ 18. Jordan Lutz added 11 for the unbeaten Pointers.

Whitewater was led by Eric Bryson's 15 points, with Darnell Harris contributing ten.  Sophomore guard Quardell Young led both teams with eight assists.

Whitewater is now 7-1 and 3-1 in league play. UW-SP remains unbeaten at 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the WIAC.

The Warhawk men will face Edgewood College in Madison on Saturday, December 22 at 7:00 p.m.

Whitewater men to host Stevens Point in 1st place showdown

 

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team hosts UW-Stevens Point Wednesday night at Kachel Gymnasium. Whitewater enters the game ranked No. 2 in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll while Point is ranked No. 6. It will be the highlight game of the night in Division III.

Over the past eight seasons Whitewater and Stevens Point have each won 4 WIAC regular season championships. The winner of Wednesday night’s early-season conference showdown will earn an important “step-up” in the race for the 2012/13 WIAC regular season title.

Whitewater, the defending NCAA Division III national champions feature an extremely balanced offense and tenacious defense on its way to seven straight victories.

The Warhawks and Pointers lead the WIAC offensively averaging 75 ½ points per game.

Whitewater has five players averaging in double figures. (Quardell Young-12.4, K.J. Evans-11.6, Luke Knoble-12.6, Darnell Harris-10.6, Eric Bryson-10.4). Cody Odegard is averaging 8.7 points per game.

"That's what we're going to need with this team,” Hawk head coach Pat Miller said. “We're going to need different guys every night to step up."

In seven games, UW-Whitewater (7-0 overall, 3-0) has had five different leading scorers.

Defensively, both Point and the Warhawks are giving up 63.6 points per game.

The Warhawks will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak vs. the Pointers and 11 of the last 13 match-ups.

Wednesday’s tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. at Kachel Gymnasium in UWW’s William’s Center where the Hawks are averaging 1100 fans in each of Whitewater’s first home games this season.

Warhawk men physically dominate UWEC in 79-65 win

KJ Evans photo courtesy of Josh Smith, Daily Jefferson County Union

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team played a dominating game inside the paint on the way to a 79-65 win over UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon at Kachel Gymnasium.

K.J. Evans led the way with a 21 point, 11 rebound performance that brought back memories of the great Aubrey Lewis-Beyers.

The sophomore out of Beloit took “the rock” to the hole repeatedly and much like Lewis-Beyers ended up at the free throw line. Evans hit 9 of 12 free throws in the game. 

How dominating was Whitewater inside of the paint?  The Hawks outrebounded the Blugolds 44-28 including 26 offensive boards leading to 31 UWW points. 9 of those 26 O-boards belonged to Evans.

For the fourth time this season UW-W forced at least twenty turnovers by an opponent, with Eau Claire turning the ball over 23 times.  Whitewater also took advantage of free throw opportunities, hitting 29-38 --- both season highs, while Eau Claire made 6-8 charity tosses.

Cody Odegaard finished with 14, Eric Bryson and Alex Merg added 11 points each.  Quardell Young chipped in with four steals and four assists. 

Eau  Claire was led by Jordan Peterson’s 17 points. Lewis Mau added 15 for the Blugolds.

The Hawks are now 7 & 0 on the season and 2 & 0 in the WIAC.

Next up a first place showdown with UW-Stevens Point Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Kachel Gymnasium.

Warhawk women outscore Eau Claire 80-72

 

Cortney Kumerow photo courtesy of  Daily Jefferson County Union

The UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team fought off the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds 80 to 72 Saturday night at Kachel Gymnasium.

While Cortney Kumerow was dominating inside, it was freshman, Abbie Reeves that gave the Warhawks some breathing room five minutes into the second half.

With the game tied at 47 Reeves hit back-to-back-back three pointers on three consecutive trips down the floor to give the Hawks a 56-47 advantage. Whitewater would not give up the lead the rest of the night.

The freshman from Westosha Central High School finished with a career, high 15 points, 13 coming in the second half. Reeves finished the game 3 of 5 from behind the arc and 4 of 4 from the free throw line.

Kumerow dominated in a see-saw first half that included seven lead changes.  The senior from Elgin, Illiois scored 14 points and pulled down 5 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Kumerow finished the game with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Freshman forward Lisa Palmer continued her strong play by tallying 10 points. Mary Merg added 9 points and Kaitlin Thill 8 points along with 9 steals and 5 assists as the Hawks go to 2 & 0 in the WIAC.

The Warhawk defense forced 28 turnovers and posted 18 steals in the game. UW-W missed just two free throws in the contest, shooting 91% (19-21).

UWEC put three players in double figures with Lisa Rempert and Courtney Lewis leading the way with 19 points each.

Wednesday night the Hawks travel to Stevens Point as two nationally ranked teams collide in an early season showdown for first place in the WIAC.

Voice's cancer fight -NEVER GIVE UP

I’d like thank all of you that have inquired the past few days on my progress in my battle with cancer. I’m still six weeks away from getting my next C-Scan which will reveal how much my tumor has been affected by my current round of chemotherapy. I won’t know the answer for another six weeks.

This is Jimmy V week on ESPN and as a cancer patient, watching video of Jimmy V saying “don’t ever give up” has hit me deeply in my effort to keep a positive attitude while fighting this terrible disease.

I want to thank to UW-Whitewater men’s and women’s basketball programs for allowing me to blog about their teams this season.

Blogging is some of the best therapy I can have in keeping my thoughts positive while battling cancer. 

To be able to write about the teams and players and interview the players allow me to put “a face” for the public about these guys and gals.  They are very talented and deserve the social media exposure.

Its on the days during my chemo treatments that I am able to spend my day writing – it is a major reason why I can stay positive.

To the many of you, including the many Warhawk football and basketball players that I write about, come up to me to ask “how are you doing in your fight.”  I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you!

To all that are reading this column – thank you for taking the time to read about Warhawk basketball. As in the game of basketball, the goal is to win the game. It is the same goal that I have in my game right now – the game of fighting cancer.

The above photo taken at last spring's NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Final Four remind me everyday to never, ever give up!

GO WARHAWKS!

Hawk women never trail in 77-55 win over UWL

Mary Merg vs. UW-La Crosse (12/5/12)

Lisa Palmer vs UW-La Crosse (12/5/12)

The UW-Whitewater women's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on the way to a 77-55 win over UW-La Crosse in Kachel Gym at Williams Center.

Whitewater scored the first two buckets of the game and never trailed the rest of the way. Whitewater went on a 7-0 run to take a 20 to 7 lead wit 13:24 remaining in the first half and extended the advantage to 41-23 at halftime.

The Warhawks shot 47% from the floor compared to 37% for the Eagles in the first 20 minutes. UW-W forced 14 turnovers while committing just six.

The Warhawk lead dipped below 15 points just once in the second half.

All five starters for the Warhawks scored in double figures led by Mary Merg's 15. Lisa Palmer added 13 on 6-9 shooting, followed by Courtney Kumerow's 12,  Kaitlin Thill finished with 11 and Katie Burton with 10. Palmer tied for game high honors with seven rebounds.

The Hawks raise their record to 5 & 2, 2 & 0 in the WIAC

The Hawks will host UW-Eau Claire on Saturday as part of a men’s – women’s doubleheader. Tip-off will be approximately 5 p.m. at Kachel Gym.