Printable Version

Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, February 14, 2008

Hunter delivers for UW-L women

UW-La Crosse's Lindsay Wahl tries to get around UW-River Falls' Caitlin Hunstock in the first half. Erik Daily

By KIRK BEY | La Crosse Tribune

Mackenzie Hunter knows there are times she needs be extremely careful. And this certainly qualified as one of them.

The last thing the

UW-La Crosse women’s basketball team needed Wednesday night was to have Hunter, its best player, reduced to the role of spectator at a critical juncture. The Eagles’ junior forward had four fouls, meaning she had to avoid trouble for the final 3½ minutes.

But that was something that motivated Hunter in UW-L’s

69-61 WIAC win over UW-River Falls in front of a Mitchell Hall crowd of 175. All she wanted to do was make some big plays and prevent the Falcons (7-15, 1-12) from pulling off an upset. What she did down the stretch certainly qualifies as clutch.

Hunter scored six of her team-high 16 points in a

2-minute, 8-second span. Her last basket, a jumper at the 1:22 mark, gave UW-L (13-10, 8-6) a 65-59 lead. It also gave Hunter — not to mention her teammates and UW-L coach Lois Heeren, too — cause to breathe a big sigh of relief.

“Coming in with four fouls makes me nervous. But coming in and getting those six points right way really gets me going,” Hunter said. “And once I get going, I know that I’m going to be all right.”

It was the type of performance that led Hunter to believe the Eagles will be all right heading into their two final regular-season games against UW-Stout and UW-Stevens Point. Win both games, and UW-L, which sits in fifth place in the WIAC, has a chance to move up to fourth and earn a home game for the WIAC Tournament, which starts Feb. 26.

The Eagles might not be in that position if not for Hunter, who picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench with 6:24 left. She returned with 3:39 left and proved to be the sparkplug UW-L needed.

Hunter re-entered the game at the 3:39 mark and drained a jumper that gave UW-L a 61-56 lead. River Falls’ Caitlin Hunstock sank a 3-pointer to cut the Eagles’ lead to 61-59, but Hunter hit back-to-back jumpers to put UW-L in control.

“I think (Hunter) did a great job,” Heeren said. “She understands (what she needs to do). She’s a level-headed player and mature enough that she understands when she gets back in the game she needs to play solid defense.”