WHITEWATER, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – After defeating the Warhawks on Saturday to end the regular season, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's basketball team returned to Whitewater on Tuesday, this time for the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament and for the second time in three days, the Blugolds came home with a win.

Box Score | Video | WIAC Tournament webpage

UW-Whitewater came out shooting in the first quarter and held a 17-11 lead going into the second, taking advantage of eight bench points. The Blugolds would charge back in the second with a 7-0 run to take the lead, 18-17 and it would be a back and forth battle for the rest of the quarter as UW-Eau Claire took a 29-27 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter was much like the second with six lead changes, but the Blugolds would still hold a one-point lead heading into the final quarter, 44-43.

After the seventh tie of the game with 9:03 left to go, the Blugolds kicked into high gear, going on a 9-0 run to lead 57-48. From there, Eau Claire never led by less than six points and saw their lead climb to as high as 11 as the Blugolds would cruise to a first round playoff victory.

Teenie Lichtfuss (Sr.-Oshkosh, WI/Lourdes) led all scorers with 23 points and also tallied five assists while Erin O'Toole (So.-Plymouth, MN/Hopkins) added 20 points and 12 rebounds and  Arien Becker (Jr.-Hayward,WI) just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

With the win, the Blugolds (14-12) advance to the second round of the WIAC Tournament and will face top-seeded UW-River Falls in River Falls on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.