Dec. 10, 2022 – A spectacular day of basketball ended in spectacular fashion inside the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center on Saturday as Loras College women's basketball pulled off an 88-79 upset victory over the 9^th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds.

The win is the first for the Duhawks over a ranked opponent since they defeated No. 4 Wartburg College 71-63 in the opening round of the 2020-21 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament.

The Duhawks (6-2) put together a total team effort on Saturday night to secure a statement win after they suffered a deflating loss just three days prior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The loss is just the second of the season for the highly touted Blugolds (9-2) with both losses coming on the road.

After a poor shooting performance on Wednesday in Platteville, the Duhawks bounced back in a huge way Saturday and tied their season-highs with 31 made field goals and nine made three-pointers. Both teams played fast, and neither was afraid to put the ball toward the hoop as the game saw 59 three-point attempts with 17 makes.

After a full day of high school girls' basketball in the AWC as part of the annual Wendy's Classic, the Duhawks finally got their turn on the court and delivered with a blazing start as they led 15-5 in the opening seven minutes of action.

The game started to take shape as a back-and-forth affair during the second quarter, but the Duhawks never trailed as they took a 33-30 lead into the locker room.

UW-Eau Claire started the second half on a 10-2 run and took its first lead at 40-37 on a three-pointer from Kylie Strop. Suddenly it was the Duhawks who had to play from behind, which they did for nearly the whole third quarter before heading to the fourth all square at 59-59.

Loras trailed 66-64 midway through the quarter before back-to-back three-pointers from sophomores Emerson Whittenbaugh and Silvana Scarsella catapulted the Duhawks to a 69-64 lead. The Duhawks would not trail in the game again but found themselves having to fend off the Blugolds' charge late as sophomore guard Daniella Jarrell connected on a reverse lay up with two minutes to play extended the lead to 73-70.

That bucket started a run of six straight points for Jarrell as Eau Claire was forced to start fouling and Jarrell connected on each of her ensuing four free throw attempts. The sophomore tallied a career-high 13 points off the bench in her season debut, thanks in part to making six free throws in the game's final two minutes.

Jarrell was one of five Duhawks to score in double figures and one of two to do so while coming off the bench as Whittenbaugh finished with a season-high 16 points after going 4-for-5 from beyond the three-point arc.

Senior guard Madison Fleckenstein led the Duhawks with 21 points and seven rebounds on Saturday. She was followed closely by junior guard Sami Martin with 20 points as the team's top two scorers both either set or tied a season-high scoring total in the upset. Scarsella was the other Duhawk in double figures as a pair of made threes helped her total 12 points for the second straight contest while adding a pair of steals and three assists.

The Duhawks will ride this momentum all the way to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where they will play a pair of games at the Cruzin' Classic on Monday, Dec. 19 and Tuesday, Dec. 20. Loras starts with a matchup versus Hanover College that Monday at 4 P.M. ET.