The UW-Platteville womens basketball team traveled to Milwaukee on Nov. 24-25 to compete in the Cardinal-Stritch Tournament.

Coming off of a 76-67 loss to Coe College on Nov. 20, the Pioneers had a pair of games on the hardwood against the Davenport University Panthers and the Temple Baptist College Rams.

The match-up against the undefeated Panthers ended in a 73-62 loss for the Pioneers on Nov. 24.

The Pioneers trailed the Panthers 42-21 after the first half of play.

“We realized what we had to do,” Lisa Wubben, junior guard, said. “They knocked down a lot of three-point shots. We were more prepared in the second half. We knew we had to do more.”

The Pioneers scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, taking the lead for a brief time, but the Panthers slipped away with the hard-fought victory.

UW-P had better luck against the Rams on Nov. 25, as the Pioneers ran away with a 68-20 victory in the consolation game against Temple Baptist.

“Whether they are 12-0 or 0-12, we go into a game with the mentality that anything can happen,” Wubben said.

During the second half of the Temple Baptist game, head coach Tina Kuhle said she put some of the younger squad in to get some experience playing other teams.

Ashley Callahan, Angie Vamstad and back-up point guard Ashley Wolf all stepped on the court for a good portion of the second half.

“Wolf played ‘real heady,’ Callahan stepped up and became the aggressor on the court and Vamstad can play all five positions,” Kuhle said.

Looking ahead, assistant coach Andy Busch said there are a few tough games coming up this season.

“Eau Claire, Whitewater and Stevens Point all have a lot of players returning, and they are pretty solid teams,” Busch said. “Our program is stronger than it has been. They are putting in the work off-season and pre-season.”

Both the womens and the mens teams play host on Saturday, Dec. 1, to UW-Superior. Tipoff for the women’s team is at 1 p.m. with the men’s game following at 3 p.m. This game marks the beginning of the WIAC conference season for the Pioneers.