The UW-Platteville Pioneer women’s basketball team snapped a five-game losing streak on Feb. 2, beating UW-River Falls 73-56, as four players reached double figures.

The Pioneers came out firing as they went on a 12-0 run halfway through the first half. Platteville led 41-25 going to halftime after shooting over 50 percent in the first half. The second half was much like the first as the Pioneers poured it on, going up by 27 with under eight minutes remaining in the game and coasted to victory from there.

When asked if this was the turning point in the season, junior forward Lisa Grantman said, “I hope so. One of the things our team struggles with is coming out in the first half, and then we have to play catch-up in the second, but today we played tough in both.”

Grantman led the team with a game-high 20 points. Lisa Wubben, who was held to only four points in the first half due to foul trouble, finished with 16 in the game. Megan Guernsey added 15 points of her own, and Charity Stotmeister rounded out the four who scored double digits with 10. The victory was an impressive one for the Pioneers who overpowered a Falcon team that was never really in contention for the majority of the game.

Saturday’s win came on the heels of a tough loss to host UW-Oshkosh on Jan. 30. Early in the game, both the Pioneers and the Titans held close, but UW-P led only once, 12-11, with 14 minutes left in the first half. Oshkosh eventually pulled away, taking a nine-point lead into halftime, 43-34. Platteville got to within four points in the second half, but never recaptured the lead, falling with the final score of 71-62.

“We didn’t shoot the ball extremely well,” said head coach Tina Kuhle. “We had high percentage shots, but they just didn’t fall.”

Another setback was the injury to sophomore guard Vanessa Nemitz.

“We lost Nemitz. She tweaked her knee … and she’s one of our better shooters,” Kuhle said.

Those comments were echoed by sophomore guard Guernsey, who said, “She’s one of our better outside shooters, so were gonna have to work the inside more as the season continues.” Nemitz is out for the season and is expected to have surgery on her injured knee.

One of the few bright spots of the game was the double-double by Wubben, who scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds. Ashley Callahan also chipped in 13 points. Four Titans finished with double digit points including Whitney Tyriver, who also scored 21 points to match Wubben for the game high in points.

The loss on Wednesday and the win on Saturday give the Pioneers a 10-10 overall record and a 4-7 record in the WIAC. Next up for the Pioneers are the Eagles of UW-La Crosse on Wednesday, Feb. 6. Then they travel to UW-Whitewater to take on the first place Warhawks at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The Pioneers face off against the WIAC’s top three teams in the next three weeks before the WIAC playoffs begin. UW-P will travel to UW-Whitewater on Feb. 13 and UW-Eau Claire on Feb. 20. The team then will return home for a final home game against UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 23.