Women's Basketball Falls to Falcons in Double Overtime

Women's Basketball Falls to Falcons in Double Overtime

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team led by 13 points at halftime but UW-River Falls came back and eventually beat the Blugolds 66-61 in double overtime at the Karges Center tonight.

Box Score

The Blugolds led almost the entire way in the first half, steadily getting to a double-digit lead. With less than three minutes left in the opening half the Blugolds were up by 11 points and led by 13 at halftime (28-15) after outscoring the Falcons 13-2 over the final seven minutes of the half.

Five minutes into the second half, the Blugolds still were up by 11 but over the next five minutes, River Falls outscored the Blugolds 13-6 to get to within four (38-34). The Falcons took the lead with less than six minutes to play in regulation and the teams played back and forth the rest of the way to end the second half with a 51-51 tie.

In the first overtime, the Falcons scored on two layups to get up 55-51 before Eau Claire came back and eventually evened the score at 57 to push the game into a second overtime.

Both teams struggled finding the basket for the first four minutes of the second overtime, combining for just six points. Over the final 40 seconds, however, the Falcons outscored the Blugolds 5-2 to win by five.

The overtime was just the 20th in history for Eau Claire and just the fifth double overtime game. The Blugolds played in two overtime games last season, winning one and losing one.

Four Blugolds reached double figures in scoring with Teenie Lichtfuss (So.-Oshkosh, Wis./Lourdes) leading the way with 17 points. Ellen Blacklock (Fr.-Winona, Minn.) and Madison Johnson (So.-Osceola, Wis.) each pulled down nine rebounds to lead the game.

Eau Claire falls to 3-11 on the season and 1-4 in the WIAC while the Falcons improve to 4-9 overall and 3-2 in conference play.

The Blugolds will be home Saturday for the first time since Dec. 9 when they host eighth-ranked UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.

-KM-