LA CROSSE, Wis. -- The UW-Superior women's basketball team dropped its final game in the Gundersen Hotel & Suites Thanksgiving Classic at UW-La Crosse's Mitchell Hall Saturday, falling to UW-Platteville, 68-47.
 
The Yellowjackets trailed 32-27 at halftime against the Pioneers, bouncing back after a lopsided loss to tournament-host UWL Friday, before Platteville pulled away in the second half. UWS hung with UWP and was down just 18-17 entering the second quarter as junior Bryton Kukowski (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) scored eight points in the opening 10 minutes.
 
UWS shot 54.2 percent from the field in the first half, connecting on 13-of-23 attempts, but hit just six field goals after halftime, while turning the ball over 16 times leading to 18 points for the opposition.
 
Sophomore Chloe Peterson (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) converted a layup to give Superior a 23-22 lead with 6:02 remaining in the second quarter prior to the Pioneers going on a 6-0 run to open a 28-23 advantage with 3:20 to play in the half. Peterson hit another layup to temporarily stop the momentum, but Platteville finished the half scoring four of the final six points.
 
Sophomore Elise Besonen (Ewen, Mich./Ewen-Trout Creek) knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession of the third quarter to pull her team to within 32-30 and senior Kaelyn Christian (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville Senior) followed with another trey off of feed from classmate Mady Sanders (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) for a 33-32 lead. A Macy Banacik triple touched off a 9-0 run for the Pioneers over the next two minutes for a 41-33 lead.
 
Barb Kling gave Platteville its first double-digit lead of the day with a jumper to make it a 45-34 game with less than four minutes left in the third. The Pioneers were up, 55-38, heading into the fourth quarter, and led by as many as 23 in the final minutes.
 
Kukowski, who was named to the all-tournament team, scored 14 points and added a team-best six rebounds, two steals and one block. Besonen and freshman Elsa Olson (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) scored seven points apiece, while Peterson chipped in six.
 
Brynlee Nelson paced four Pioneers in double digits with 18 points; Ella Mackiewicz had 13 points and six rebounds.
 
The Yellowjackets next head to Grand Forks, N.D., for an exhibition game against Division I North Dakota, Friday, Dec. 2. Game time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center is 7 p.m.