WAVERLY, Iowa-- Junior Emma Gerdes (Cedar Falls) had a career-high 19 points in No. 17/19 Wartburg's 72-67 loss to UW-Eau Claire Saturday. Her previous best was 16 points set Wednesday at Loras.
 
Two teammates, juniors Amanda Brainerd (DeWitt) and Katie Lindeman (Grundy Center), joined her in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Tori Hazard (Janesville) led the team with eight rebounds.

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With the win, the Blugolds halted the Knights' 28 home game winning streak and moved to 5-2 on the season. The Knights are now 6-2 on the year.

UWEC led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter and the Orange and Black used a 9-0 run from 6:40-3:36 left in the second frame to take the 30-22 lead. Wartburg would later take the 32-30 lead at halftime.

The Knights once again won the scoring battle in the third quarter (18-17) until a strong fourth quarter from the Blugolds turned the tide into their favor. After the Orange and Black led by nine (56-47) with 8:29 to play, UWEC took its third lead of the game at 61-59 with 3:42 to go.

The Blugolds would push their margin to six twice in the session, but Wartburg sliced it to three (70-67) with a trey from Gerdes with 19 seconds remaining. The Knights then chose to foul and UWEC made both free throws to make it a five-point game with 14 seconds left.

The Orange and Black were unable to make any of their three last shot attempts to seal the win for the visitors.

Wartburg is off from competition until the Trip Sports Las Vegas Tournament Dec. 18.