MENOMONIE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – While UW-Stout jumped out to the initial lead, the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team came back to defeat the Blue Devils 73-57 at Johnson Fieldhouse today for the Blugolds' first conference win of the season.
Stout opened the game with a 6-0 run but the Blugolds got back into it and tied it up just over four minutes into the contest. The first half saw seven ties, but by halftime, the Blugolds led by one (35-34).
The Blugolds never trailed the rest of the way. Over the first five minutes of the second half, the Blugolds outscored the Blue Devils 15-7 to get up by nine (50-41) and the closest Stout would get the rest of the way was six points. The Blugolds outscored the Blue Devils 12-3 over the final five minutes to win by 16.
Courtney Lewis (Jr.-Prairie du Chien, Wis.) led the game in scoring with 19 points, 13 coming in the second half. Kristin Sahr (Jr.-Stillwater, Minn.) and Teenie Lichtfuss (So.-Oshkosh, Wis./Lourdes) both added 13 points while Lichtfuss led Eau Claire with six rebounds and five assists.
Eau Claire hit eight three-pointers today, a season-high, and also tied a season high with 17 made free throws. The teams were even in rebounding with 37 apiece, although the Blue Devils pulled down 12 on the offensive end to six for Eau Claire.
The Blugolds are now 3-10 overall and 1-3 in the WIAC while Stout drops to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
Wednesday, the Blugolds will be at UW-River Falls for another conference game, which will begin at 7 p.m.
-KM-