Rastall's Ramblings: UW–La Crosse Enjoys Historic WIAC Hoops Weekend

Having one basketball program win their first-ever conference tournament title would be cause enough for celebration. But having both your men’s and women’s hoops teams pull off the same feat in consecutive days? That’s a memorable rarity that the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse got to experience last weekend.

The Eagles men’s and women’s basketball teams each claimed their first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament crowns on back-to-back days this past weekend — giving an early taste of March Madness and locking up automatic bids in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

First up was the women’s team on Friday, who had snapped a streak of eight straight conference tournament semifinal losses but was tasked with facing top-seeded UW–Oshkosh, who have been a WIAC stalwart in 14 seasons under head coach Brad Fischer with six regular-season and six tournament titles.

During Fisher’s reign as head coach of the Titans, he owned a 27-5 record against the Eagles going into Friday’s matchup in Oshkosh that marked UW–La Crosse’s first appearance in the tournament title game.

The Titans looked like they were probably on their way to their first WIAC tourney championship since 2021 when they carried a 44-36 lead into the fourth quarter, but they were to just five points in the final quarter as the Eagles rallied back.

A Grace Knupp layup with 1:47 to go gave UW–L the lead and a three by Malia Nelson a minute later made it 51-47, and the Eagles held on for a 52-49 upset victory. It marked just the latest step forward for the program under third-year head coach Moran Lonning, who guided UW–L to their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1988 last year.

That win was a tough act for the men’s team to follow on Saturday, but they proved up for the challenge.

The UW–La Crosse men had made it to the WIAC tourney championship game three prior times in 2007, 2021 and 2025, but never managed better than a 15-point loss in any of them.

Like the women’s team, the men’s squad has been on the upswing under third-year head coach JT Gritzmacher. In 2025, the Eagles set a new program record with 25 wins and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in school history.

Finishing one game back of regular-season champion UW–Whitewater and with the Warhawks making the conference tournament title game, that meant the Eagles were on the road hoping to make history.

A seesaw battle throughout, UW–L took the lead for good on Jacob Butler’s layup with a minute remaining and survived an attempted game-tying three at the buzzer for an 81-78 victory. Sam Grieger poured in 33 points to help spark a historic win for the program.

There’s a bit of local flavor on both rosters, with La Crosse Logan grad Aaliyah Hamilton, West Salem native Ella Jordan and Sparta native Evelyn Tripp on the women’s team, and La Crosse Central grad Devon Fielding, Tomah native Dustin Derousseau and West Salem grad Hutson Hendrickson (coached by former G-E-T head coach Mark Wagner during his stint with the Panthers) on the men’s squad.

With March Madness set to get into full swing in the weeks ahead, the story isn’t over yet for UW–La Crosse after one of the most thrilling weekends of hoops in school history.