Warhawk women go 2 & 0 in New Orleans

 The UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team cruised to two wins over the weekend at the Big Easy Challenge down in New Orleans.

The Hawks jumped out 13 to 2 lead over Milsaps Sunday afternoon on the way to 83-70 victory.

Milsaps closed out the first half on a 13-4 run to cut the UWW lead to 36-28 at halftime.

Milsaps pulled within six points at 47-41 with 13:08 left prior to grabbing control of the game by going on a 23 to 4 over the next five minutes to surge in front 66-47.  Whitewater's lead never dropped below double digits the rest of the way.

Kaitlyn Thill led both teams with 20 points, 17 coming in the second half. The junior out of Ozaukee high school finished the game 7-9 from the field, including 2-4 behind the arc and 4-5 at the free throw line.

Katie Burton added 16 points, Cortney Kumerow had 15, and freshman guard Abbie Reeves added 12 for UWW.

Lovie Love scored 14 for Millsaps

UW-Whitewater opened play in New Orleans on Friday with a 58-46 win over Millikin University.

The Warhawk defense forced 34 turnovers by the Big Blue, the second time this season UW-W's defense has recorded more than thirty turnovers in a game.  That translated to 26 points off turnovers.  Mary Merg led all scorers with 12 points.  Cortney Kumerow recorded a double double for the Warhawks, with ten points and a game high ten rebounds. 

Hawk men fall 66-55 at St. Norbert

 St. Norbert College parlayed it’s home court advantage to a 66-55 upset win over 6^th ranked UW-Whitewater in Sunday afternoon’s championship game of the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament at the Schudes Sports Center in DePere.

St. Norbert led 22-21 at halftime. Whitewater started strong in the second half and led 27-22 on a Quardell Young layup early in the second half. The lead flip-flopped over the next four minutes with SNC taking one-point lead with 14:07 left in the game. The Green Knights would not relinquish the lead the rest of the game.

An 11-4 run for SNC gave them a 46-39 cushion with 9:09 remaining. The Green Knights pushed the gap to 55-45 with 6:04 left.

Patrick Souther cut the lead to nine (55-46) by making one of two free throws with 5:36 remaining in the game. The Hawks would not score again until Darnell Harris hit a three point bucket with 2:02 left pulling Whitewater within eight. That is as close as UWW would get.

The Warhawks shot just 41% for the game and turned the ball over a season-high 18 times while forcing a season-low 10 turnovers.

Quardell Young was the game's leading scorer with 21 points, going 8-11 from the floor, while also leading both teams with four steals.  Knoble, with ten points, was the only other Warhawk in double figures. 

Brandon Gries led four Green Knights in double figures with 17 points as SNC ups its season mark to 7 & 3.

The loss drops the Warhawks to 9 & 1. Next up for the Hawks will host Cardinal Stritch College, 15-1, Wednesday, January 2 at 7:00 in Kachel Gym of Williams Center. 

Warhawk men defeat Northwestern (Minn) at St. Norbert Holiday Tournament

 The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team advanced to Sunday’s championship game of the St. Norbert Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament by defeating Northwestern College (Minn) 71-61 at the Schuldes Sports Center in DePere.

Whitewater rallied from a 34-20 halftime deficit outscoring the Eagles 42-27 in the second half.

The Warhawks followed a familiar formula to pick up the team’s 9^th win in 10 games.  Luke Knoble led four Hawks in double figures with 14 points. Reggie Hearn finished with 13, Quardell Young 12, and K.J. Evans with 11.  Darnell Harris and Alex Merg chipped in with 9 and 8 points respectively.

Merg, who led the Warhawks with 37 minutes of playing time, led Whitewater with a career-high 11 rebounds. UWW won the battle of the boards by a 42-32 margin.

Whitewater turned the ball over 10 times compared to 15 for Northwestern a team they defeated 83-68 in the opening round of last spring’s NCAA Division III national tournament at Kachel Gymnasium.

Tom Gisler, Wade Chitwood, and Matt Watnemo each scored 12 points for the Crusaders.

Warhawk men roll to 73-48 win at Edgewood College

With a 10-day layoff for final exams behind them, the UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team made quick work of Edgewood College Saturday night at the Edgedome in Madison

The Warhawks  jumped out to a 17-4 advantage and never looked back on the way to a 75-48 win over the Crusaders in non-conference action.

Luke Knoble paced UWW’s attack scoring the game’s first seven points on the way to a game-high 17 points – 15 in the first half. The Hawks shot 62% in the first half and 51% for the game.

Eric Bryson finished with 13 points. Quardell Young chipped in with 9 and Darnell Harris 8 for the Warhawks. Whitewater hit 6 of 15 from outside the arc.

11 Hawks scored in the game as Whitewater raises its record to 8 & 1 on the season. Edgewood falls to 2 & 9 and 0 & 4 vs. the WIAC.

UW-W will travel to DePere for a tournament hosted by Saint Norbert College December 29-30.  The Warhawks will face Northwestern College (MN), a team they beat 83-68 in the first round of the NCAA III Tournament last year, at 5:00.  The next night UW-W will face either Marian College or host Saint Norbert, game time 5:00 or 7:00

Alex Merg battling through injury this season

 

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team has shown quality depth this season showcased by four starters off last year’s NCAA Division III national championship team.  Eric Bryson, Luke Knoble, Cody Odegard, Alex Merg and sixth man, Quardell Young bring plenty of on-court experience for this year’s squad.

Young, Bryson, and Knoble are all averaging in double figures with Odegard just short of double digits.

Alex Merg has been slowed by injury all season and has seen his minutes limited to micro fractures in both shins.

The junior out of Greendale was limited to 6 to 11 minutes a game earlier in the season but has played 20 minutes in each of the Hawks last two games vs. Eau Claire and Stevens Point.

Last year as a starter, Merg finished fourth in the conference averaging 4.16 assists per game and sixth in the WIAC with 41 steals. Merg’s assist to turnover ratio was second best in the league last season.

Merg is faced with playing with pain something he must deal with for the rest of the season.  He is iced down with ice bags on both shins shortly after his playing time is concluded each game.

It takes a special brand of player to deal with such an injury.  Merg is that type of player.

Merg’s game centers around hustle, tenacity and at times reckless abandon especially on the defensive end. 

He might be playing hurt this season with minutes limited but that same tenacity is still apparent and will be a key reason the Warhawks are planning on being in the championship hunt in the WIAC again this season.

Voice Box commentary from Tom "Voice" Pattison

Hi everybody – Tom “Voice” Pattison here with the first installment of my “Voice Box” Commentary.

Former Warhawk men’s basketball coach Dave “Auggie” Vander Meulen told me early in my stint as the “radio voice of Warhawk basketball” that the key to a successful season is to play it “a game at a time.” No peaks and valleys. A game vs. Stevens Point or Platteville is no bigger than a game at Superior.

I remembered that advice in the final minutes of last night’s 72-61 loss to WIAC archrival UW-Stevens Point.

Admittedly the Hawks first loss of the season gives Point an early “leg up” in the conference race but it is a long season.

To the 1581 fans that were at Kachel Gym, and for those watching the game on UWW TV or listening to Gary Douglas on KOOL 106.5 remember the Hawk are still in the process of developing team chemistry, something that Coach Miller indicated would take some time.

I’ve been watching this team both in practice and during games and I see a very special team developing.  Wednesday night’s loss to Point is just part of that process.  I’m sure Coach Miller and Coach Chapman will take the positives from the game and coach the boys up and look forward – not back in preparation for its December 22^nd game at Madison Edgewood.

On a more upbeat topic… Congratulations to Coach Keri Carollo and her Warhawk women’s basketball team at getting 58-55 win over Stevens Point at perhaps the toughest venue for visiting teams to win – Berg Gymnasium.

The Hawks sit on top of the WIAC standing with a 4 & 0 mark and are coming off a week in which the Warhawks beat both Eau Claire and Stevens Point – I call that “one heck of a week.”

The Hawk women now head to Holland, Michigan to participate in the Hope College Post Exam Slam. The 16^th ranked Warhawks will play Kalamazoo College Friday afternoon at 4:30 CST. On Saturday No. 6 Hope and No. 16 Whitewater will square off in a high profile non-conference showdown.

On a personal note… I’ve now spent 25 years covering UW-Whitewater basketball. Its been my job and the adrenaline rush on game-days is a great feeling.  During my current battle with cancer I still get that rush and look so forward to getting the story to my readers.  Earlier yesterday I spent three hours receiving my bi-weekly chemotherapy treatment.  It has been a challenge for me to keep my energy up sitting on press row during games – particularly those Saturday doubleheaders.  While it has been taxing on me physically I have no plans to limit my work putting a face on Warhawk basketball for my loyal readers. ITS MY JOB!

Coach Miller: "It was a disappointing, flat effort"

UW-Whitewater head coach Pat Miller knew his team would have to play at a high level to beat WIAC rival Stevens Point last night at Kachel Gym.  In retrospect the Warhawks got away from its “team concept” approach as Point dominated the second half on the way to a convincing 72-61 win in a battle of unbeaten teams.

“It was just a selfish effort on our part,” Miller told reporters after the game

The Hawks trailed by just two points at halftime and after Point’s Preseason All-American Tyler Tillema suffered a game-ending high ankle sprain late in the half many of the 15-hundred plus at Kachel Gym had thoughts or an impending strong second half for the defending NCAA Division III champions.

It didn’t happen as the Pointers outscored the Hawks by a 42-33 margin.

“I thought it was a selfish effort on our part,” Coach Miller indicated following the game. . We talked a lot about having to run our offense side to side against a good defensive team like Steven Point to create opportunities and we settled for what was easy and that was take quick perimeter shots and we obviously didn’t make them.

The Warhawks also struggled big time from the free throw line making just 8 of 19.  According to Miller scoring points when the clock’s stopped is imperative if you expect to beat a team like Stevens Point.

“We just get anything going tonight,” Miller commented. “Their just wasn’t a lot of things we did well in order to create momentum or energy. It was just an extremely disappointing effort.

With finals week winding down Whitewater now gets nine days off prior to taking on Edgewood College in Madison on December 22^nd.  The Hawks return home for non-conference action vs. Cardinal Stritch on January 2 at Kachel Gym.