WHITEWATER, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team had the 2023-24 season come to a close on Friday night with an 86-47 loss to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Cougars end the year at 17-11 overall.

UW-Whitewater set the tone immediately, securing the opening tip, scoring the opening bucket and then setting up its full-court press. Pushing tempo and getting Minnesota Morris out of its comfort zone, the Warhawks started with a 7-0 run before Malory Anderson grabbed an offensive rebound and laid one in for the first Cougar points. Jay Kwateh then helped the Cougars stay close, twice notching steals and going coast-to-coast for buckets. A third Kwateh field goal of the quarter made it 21-10 and Alice Wilkinson scored on a runner in the lane to shrink the gap to 24-14 before UW-Whitewater hit a layup just before the buzzer to take a 12-point lead.

The second quarter was when UW-Whitewater took total control of the contest. Shooting 13-of-19 (.684) from the floor as a team, the Warhawks outscored Minnesota Morris, 32-8, in the quarter. Kwateh ended a 10-0 UWW run with a short jumper that made it 32-16, but another 9-0 run from the Warhawks followed until Grace Perry swished a three coming out of a timeout. Later in the frame, Maddy Grove nabbed an offensive rebound off her own miss and scored the putback to make it 47-22. The Warhawks finished the half by scoring the final 11 points to take a 58-22 halftime edge.

Minnesota Morris nearly played even with UW-Whitewater in the second half. Grove had the first four points of the half for the Cougars. As the third quarter progressed, Perry and Jadyn Sondrol knocked down threes to leave it at 73-32 heading into the final 10 minutes.

Grove started the fourth quarter with a triple before Shelby Mortenson and Kwateh picked up the scoring load for Minnesota Morris later in the quarter. The final bucket of the contest and the season was a three-pointer from Wilkinson that provided the final 39-point margin.

Grove and Kwateh each finished the night with 12 points. Mortenson came off the bench and added seven. Anderson finished with a game-high seven rebounds. 

UW-Whitewater improves to 23-4 and advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Warhawks will host Millikin University tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.