Issued: February 15, 2003

WOMEN USE LATE RUN TO REMAIN PERFECT IN CONFERENCE

WHITEWATER - Down 49-42 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team ended the game with a 25-10 run as the Blugolds topped conference rival UW-Whitewater 67-59 here today at the Williams Center to remain unbeaten in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Kristi Channing (Sr-Fall Creek) and Janel Soppeland (Sr-Soppeland) showed tremendous senior leadership as they both posted big numbers down the stretch. Channing scored 10 points in the Blugold run while Soppeland added seven, including a huge three-point shot that gave the Blugolds the lead with under four minutes to play.

With the victory the Blugolds improve to 23-1 on the season and 15-0 in conference play while the Warhawks fall to 10-12 overall and 4-10 in WIAC play. The Blugolds claimed the conference title outright last Wednesday with a home victory over UW-Oshkosh.

The first 10 minutes of the game were played extremely close as no team led by more than four. The game saw four lead changes and three ties in just the first 10 minutes of action. With 10:14 remaining in the half, Channing made a lay-up that put the Blugolds up by one and started an 8-0 Eau Claire run. With 4:56 remaining in the opening half, the Blugolds still held a seven point advantage but the Warhawks assembled a late first half run, scoring six of the half's final seven points, to head into the locker room down by just a pair. Channing totaled half of the Blugolds first half points with 14 of Eau Claire's 28 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor.

The Warhawks took advantage of four early turnovers by the Blugolds in the second half to turn the tables and open up a four point lead of their own. Eau Claire responded with four unanswered points to even the score at 36. With the score tied, the Blugold shooters went cold missing seven of their next nine shots and a pair of free throws. With exactly 8:30 left to play, the Warhawks held their biggest lead of the game at seven points.

After a 30 second timeout the Blugolds went quickly back to work and just three minutes later regained a one point advantage. After a Warhawk three-pointer, Janel Soppeland came up big for the Blugolds answering the trifecta by nailing a trey of her own to again give the Blugolds the lead. This time the Blugolds did nothing to the advantage but extend it and when all was said and done the Blugolds had escaped with a 67-59 victory.

Channing ended up with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting while also sinking all five free throw attempts. Soppeland finished with 13, also sinking all four free throws she attempted. For the fifth time in the last six games, Brook Wozniak (Jr-Stanley/Stanley-Boyd) grabbed double digit rebounds as she hauled in 11 boards to lead the Blugolds to a slight rebounding edge.

With just one game remaining, the Blugolds look to finish the season with a perfect 16-0 record in conference play for the second time in the past four years. Oshkosh and Whitewater are the only other teams to finish the season with an unbeaten conference record. The Titans accomplished the feat in the 1995-96 season while the Warhawks did it 10 seasons earlier. Eau Claire is the latest to finish unbeaten as they finished 16-0 in the 1999-00 season.

Eau Claire faces off with Platteville Wednesday night at 7:00 in Platteville.

Eau Claire-Whitewater Box