EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's basketball team used a late run to pull away and defeat Wartburg 94-83 in its season opener on Friday at Zorn Arena. Jessie Ruden (Sr. - Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) scored 30 points and Tyra Boettcher (Sr. - Menomonie, Wis.) added a double-double as the Blugolds began their home Tip-Off Tournament with a win.
The Blugolds and Knights are both coming off berths in the NCAA Tournament last season. The two high-caliber programs were tied at 79 with four minutes remaining, but UW-Eau Claire scored seven straight points and held on from there to score a season-opening victory. Kylie Mogen (Sr. - Menomonie, Wis.) broke the tie with an old-fashioned 3-point play and hit a 3-pointer shortly after. Courtney Crouch (Sr. - White Bear Lake, Minn.) added a free throw, and the Blugolds led by at least five the rest of the way.
"I just felt like it was a heavyweight bout," Blugolds head coach Tonja Englund said. "A team would go up, make a run, the other team would come back...There were just some times where we made runs because we scored and made stops back to back. We talked a lot about that. We have the ability to score; for us, the question is can we get those back to back with a stop so we can grow a lead? There were too many times where the two teams were trading baskets, and that's just not our style. So that's where our focus will be."
The Blugolds led by as much as 11 in the first half as the squad's offense flexed its muscles. Ruden poured in 17 points before the halftime break. Wartburg had some answers though, and trimmed the lead to four before UW-Eau Claire got some padding for a seven-point halftime lead.
The second half followed a similar trend. The Blugolds went ahead by 13 when Boettcher made a jumper with 5:39 left in the third quarter, but the Knights embarked on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to two in the late stages of the period. Wartburg tied the game at 65 on a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left before the fourth quarter, and took a two-point lead after a pair of free throws to end the third.
The two sides were locked at 79 when Mogen threw the haymaker for the Blugolds. She finished with 21 points and five rebounds. Ruden's 30 points led all scorers, and she finished two points away from a new career high. The point guard also dished nine assists. Boettcher tallied 22 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
"Jessie Ruden was her usual self: fabulous," Englund said of the preseason first-team All-American. "She played 40 minutes, but I felt like down the stretch it wasn't just Jessie. Big credit to Lucia Hauge who came in as a sophomore for us and played really well."
The Blugolds close out the Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 12, against Bethel at 7 p.m. at Zorn Arena.
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