WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitworth opened the 2025-26 women's basketball season with a narrow 58-53 loss to Wisconsin-Platteville in the first game of the Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic at Sherwood Athletic Center on Friday.
The Pioneers (2-0) outscored the Pirates 22-9 in the fourth quarter to rally from a second half deficit.
UW-Platteville led 16-13 at the end of a back-and-forth first quarter. Whitworth made six of 12 field goal attempts in the quarter, but the Pioneers kept the edge by making six free throws and grabbing six offensive rebounds. Ashlyn Neilsen nailed a three-pointer to tie the game in the last 30 seconds of the quarter before Caitlyn Strom answered with a long distance shot of her own to put UW-Platteville up by three.
The Pioneers extended their lead to as much as seven early in the second quarter, but the Bucs battled and cut the lead to one on three separate occasions, the latest being a three-point basket from Brenna Gilchrist and free throws from Neilsen. Despite a first half field goal percentage of 25% (8-32 FG), UW-Platteville took a 27-26 lead into halftime, much in part to ten offensive rebounds to the Pirates' one. Whitworth shot 41.7% (10-24 FG) in the first half and made three of seven three-point attempts.
CC Size gave the Pirates their first lead since early in the first quarter with a put-back layup plus a foul on the Bucs first offensive possession of the third. Two possessions later, Neilsen buried a three pointer to put the Bucs up 32-27 at the 8:35 mark. The Whitworth defense and rebounding effort helped maintain the lead for the remainder of the quarter. A pair of Neilsen free throws gave the Pirates their largest lead of the game 44-36.
Whitworth held on until the eight-minute mark when the Pioneers went on a 7-0 run and cut the lead to one. Alex Goetz's basket with 4:49 to play put the Bucs up by three, but it was the last Pirate points of the game. UW-Platteville closed the game on an 8-0 run, and Ella Mackiewicz made a free throw to put the Pioneers up by five with 18 seconds remaining. UW-Platteville made eight of 14 field goal attempts in the final frame.
Whitworth shot 34.7% (17-49) from the field and 25% (5-20) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers shot just 29.2% (19-65) and made five of 18 three-point attempts (27.8%). UW-Platteville had a 42-34 advantage on the glass, 17 of them on the offensive end.
Size led the Whitworth offense with 15 points and added eight rebounds. Goetz had 12 points and Neilsen finished with 10. Addison Gallatin grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Mackiewicz led the Pioneers with 18 points and nine rebounds. She was the only UW-Platteville player in double figures.
The Pirate women will play St. Thomas (Texas) tomorrow at 10:00am in their second and final game of the Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic.
