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Issued: February 29, 2008

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL LOOKING FOR FOURTH WIAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team is looking for their fourth Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament championship against UW-Stevens Point on Saturday at Zorn Arena.

The Blugolds are making their sixth WIAC tournament championship appearance, and the Pointers are making their third WIAC tournament championship appearance. The Blugolds won in 2000, 2001, and 2003. The Pointers won in 2004. The Blugolds are the top seed in the tournament and the Pointers are seeded third. These teams split their conference games this season.

On January 23rd the Blugolds won with a 16-0 run late in the second half to pull out the 62-54 victory at Zorn Arena. The Blugolds were behind by eight points with 6:50 left in the game. Michelle Burns (Sr.-Eau Claire, WI/North) broke out and couldn’t be stopped. Burns had 10 points during that 16-0 run that put the Blugolds up by eight with 49 seconds left in the game. The Pointer would get a three point play to get the deficit to five, but Burns had two free throws to go up by seven. Hannah Mesick (Fr.-Chatfield, MN) also had key free throws with 16 seconds left to get the lead to eight. Heidi Arciszewski (Jr.-Thorp, WI) clinched the win with free throws with four seconds left to get the 62-54 victory.

The Blugolds suffered their second WIAC loss of the season on February 13th against the Pointers, 57-43. The Pointers went into halftime with the four point lead, 25-21. The Pointers would increase their lead to eight at the beginning of the second half with three pointers from Laura Neuenfeldt and Haley Houghton. The Blugolds would tie the game off big shots from Burns and Arciszewski. Arciszewski would take the 33-31 lead off a fastbreak layup with 13:31 left to play. The Pointers would answer with Houghton having back-to-back threes and two free throws. Both teams would trade baskets before Janell Van Gomple got the Pointers’ lead to 10 with 4:41 left to play. Kali Houselog (Sr.-Neenah, WI/St. Mary Central) would get a layup to cut the lead to eight, but the Blugolds would get no closer. Neuenfeldt attempted eight free throws, making seven of them clinching the 57-43 victory.

Burns lead the Blugolds in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounds (6.3 rpg). Arciszewski is averaging 13.7 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game. Heather Witt (Jr.-Kendall, WI/Royall) leads the WIAC in steals (66) and assists (104). The Pointers are led by Houghton, who averages 12.8 points per game. Neuenfeldt is averaging 9.6 points per game and Chelsey Kranz is averaging 9.3 points per game.

This game is set to tip-off on Saturday at 3 p.m.

-SB-

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