Women's Basketball Falls Short to UW-La Crosse

Women's Basketball Falls Short to UW-La Crosse

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Despite leading by as many as 10 points, a scoring drought that lasted more than 11 minutes in the second half sealed the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team's fate as the Blugolds fell to UW-La Crosse 63-54 on Ken Anderson Court in Zorn Arena tonight.

Box Score

In the opening half the Blugolds led most of the time as there were seven lead changes and two ties. After the second tie with less than five minutes to play, the Blugolds outscored the Eagles the rest of the way 9-0 to get up 31-22 at halftime.

After the Blugolds got up by 10 points (34-24) at 18:36 in the second half, they went on a scoring drought that lasted over 11 minutes. During that stretch, the Eagles outscored the Blugolds 19-0 to build a nine-point lead.

The Blugolds got back into the game with a 10-3 run to close within three (49-46) with less than four minutes to play. That was as close as the Blugolds would get, however, as the Eagles outscored Eau Claire 14-8 the rest of the way to win by nine.

Two Blugolds reached double figures with Courtney Lewis (Jr.-Prairie du Chien, Wis.) leading the way with 19 points. Ellen Blacklock (Fr.-Winona, Minn.) led both teams in rebounding with seven.

As a team, the Eagles shot 41.9 percent (18-for-43) from the field while the Blugolds shot 38.5 percent (20-for-52). Eau Claire held a 35-28 rebounding advantage.

Eau Claire falls to 1-7 overall and 0-2 in the conference while La Crosse improves to 5-3 on the season and 1-1 in WIAC play.

The Blugolds will be home again Monday for a nonconference game against the University of Minnesota-Morris. Action will get underway at 7 p.m. in Zorn Arena.

-KM-