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Wagner, the UW-La Crosse women’s basketball team’s senior point guard, zeroed in on junior forward Lindsay Wahl under the basket. The fact Wahl snared the pass and got a layup with three UW-Superior players around her showed Wagner’s confidence in her teammate. It also showed that Wahl was paying attention.
“I’ve learned the hard way that any time Wags throws me the ball, I’ve got to be ready to catch it,” Wahl said laughing.
Glance at the final statistics of UW-L’s 73-40 WIAC victory Saturday over UW-Superior at Mitchell Hall, and you’ll see the Eagles were in tune with each other from start to finish.
The proof? UW-L (10-10, 5-6) had 18 assists. The Eagles’ five starters (Dana Churchill, Mackenzie Hunter, Mandy Stevens, Wagner and Wahl) accounted for 11 assists. As a team, UW-L is averaging 11.7 assists a game.
UW-L coach Lois Heeren hasn’t set a quota as far as how many assists she would like the Eagles to have in any given game. All she wants the Eagles to do is put themselves in a position to score.
On Saturday, they did that time and again against the Yellowjackets (4-15, 1-10).
“Eighteen assists on 25 baskets shows we played pretty good team ball,” Heeren said. “I think our whole team played well. We’ve been playing strong and playing good team ball our last few games. Our players are putting each other in a position to score.”
Wahl, the Eagles’ leading scorer in five of their last nine games, once again was a prime target. She finished with a game-high 19 points by going 4-for-8 from the floor, and 11-for-14 from the free-throw line.
But Wahl is far from UW-L’s only option. Freshman forward Churchill, who became a starter when Sam Aspenson was injured in December, scored 10 points. And junior forward Hunter, the Eagles’ leading scorer at 15 ppg, finished with nine.
“I think we’re a harder team to guard,” Wahl said. “It’s good knowing everyone is capable of scoring.”
Kirk Bey can be reached at (608) 791-8414, or at kbey@lacrossetribune.com
