Issued: February 25, 2003

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL VS STOUT WIAC SEMIFINAL PREVIEW

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Women's Basketball Tournament
Monday, February 24; Wednesday, February 26; Saturday, March 1

First Round Results - Monday, February 24

#1 Eau Claire 76, #8 River Falls 41

#2 Stevens Point 90, #7 La Crosse 55

#3 Oshkosh 70, #6 Whitewater 60

#4 Stout 80, #5 Platteville 64

Semifinals - Wednesday, February 26

#4 UW-Stout (19-7, 10-6 WIAC) at #1 UW-Eau Claire (25-1, 16-0 WIAC)

#3 UW-Oshkosh (21-5, 11-5 WIAC) at #2 UW-Stevens Point (22-4, 13-3 WIAC)

Championship - Saturday, March 1

Eau Claire-Stout winner vs. the Stevens Point-Oshkosh winner at the highest seed

Stout vs. Eau Claire
Wednesday, February 26 - 7 pm
Zorn Arena, Eau Claire
Doors open at 6 pm
Tickets

    Reserved - $7

    Adults - $6

    UWEC Faculty/Staff - $6

    Seniors - $4

    Youths - $3

    Students (High School & College) - $3

Fans asked to bring a non-perishable food item (canned good or packaged item) to drop off at the door in support of the conference-wide food drive in conjunction with Ministry Health Care to benefit the food pantries in each WIAC community.

This is the fifth year of the WIAC women's basketball tournament and the No. 1 seed has won the previous four championships.

1999: #1 Oshkosh beat #2 Eau Claire, 79-60

2000: #1 Eau Claire beat #2 Oshkosh, 56-45

2001: #1 Eau Claire beat #7 Platteville, 78-76

2002: #1 Stout beat #3 Oshkosh, 90-71

Eau Claire is the No. 1 seed for the third time in five years. The Blugolds previously were

1999: #2

2000: #1

2001: #1

2002: #4

2003: #1

This semifinal matchup is just the reverse of last year's semifinal when No. 1 Stout hosted No. 4 Eau Claire at Menomonie and escaped with a 71-68 win.

With its two wins this year, Eau Claire leads the all-time series against Stout, 36-16. Prior to this year's two wins, the Blugolds had lost four consecutive games to Stout after winning the previous six in succession.

Eau Claire and Stout have played twice previously in the WIAC tournament:

2000: #1 Eau Claire beat #4 Stout, 61-59, in the semifinals at Eau Claire

2002: #1 Stout beat #4 Eau Claire, 71-68, in the semifinals at Menomonie

Third-year Eau Claire coach Tonja Englund owns a 67-14 record (.827 winning percentage) since taking over for Lisa Stone, who posted a 277-59 record (.824 winning percentage) in 12 years as the head coach before leaving for the head job at Division I Drake University.

The Blugolds became only the fifth team to go through a conference schedule unbeaten since the conference went to a 16-game double round robin format beginning with the 1985-86 season. The previous unbeaten champs were Eau Claire (1999-00), Oshkosh (1997-98 and 1995-96) and Whitewater (1985-86).

The Blugolds have won 16 games in succession since their only loss of the season, a 73-59 decision to South Dakota State, currently the No. 4-ranked team in NCAA Division II. The Blugolds have won all 13 of their home games this year. Stout owns a 7-5 road record this year and was 4-4 in WIAC road games.

The Blugolds are currently the No. 1-ranked team in the NCAA's Central Region and are ranked No. 1 nationally in the most recent d3hoops.com poll and No. 4 in the most recent WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) poll.

Only seven of 17 players on the roster hail from more than an hour's drive of Eau Claire.

Three players are from the two public high schools in Eau Claire (Joanna Leafblad, Molly Menard, Emilee Planert). Moving out from Eau Claire, there is representation from Chippewa Falls (Becca Spaeth), Fall Creek (Kristi Channing), Cadott (Janel Soppeland), Gilmanton (Rachel Becker), Stanley (Brooke Wozniak) and Hudson (Emily Anderson, Megan Hanson). Even the seven that are more than an hour are all within six hours: La Crosse (Katie Murphy), North Branch, MN (Kelly Lines), Osceola (Jenny Wolter), St. Michael, MN (Liz VanDrasek), Appleton (Kelly Guay), Brillion (Laura Tamm) and Rock Island, IL (Toya Banks).

The Blugolds' average winning margin is 18.6 points with 15 wins by 16 or more points. The Blugolds have escaped four opponents by less than five points with two in the 6-10 range and four more victories in the 11 to 15 range. The two most telling stats are shooting percentage and rebounding. The Blugolds are outshooting their opponents, 46.2 to 36.8 percent, and outrebounding them by 11.5 per game.

Nine Blugolds have scored in double figures this year: Kristi Channing (20), Becca Spaeth (18), Janel Soppeland (12), Brooke Wozniak (6), Emilee Planert (5), Toya Banks (2), Katie Murphy (2), Rachel Becker (1) and Emily Anderson (1). Only three have reached double digits in rebounding: Brooke Wozniak (15), Kristi Channing (4) and Becca Spaeth (3). The same three have the only double-doubles: Brooke Wozniak (4), Kristi Channing (3) and Becca Spaeth (1).

Five players have led the team in scoring: Kristi Channing (13 times), Becca Spaeth (8), Janel Soppeland (5), Emily Planert (1) and Katie Murphy (1). Channing was the leading scorer in the final four games of the regular season during which time she averaged 20.5 per game.

Four players have been the rebounding leader: Brooke Wozniak (16 times), Becca Spaeth (7), Kristi Channing (3) and Janel Soppeland (1). Wozniak has been the leading rebounder in the last 10 games during which time she has averaged 13.1 per game.

The Blugolds top scoring efforts this year included 31 and 30 by Channing in the two games against Whitewater, 28 by Planert in the second game against Stout, 26 by Soppeland in the Thanksgiving Showcase game against Northwestern and 25 by Spaeth in the first game against Stout. The top rebounding efforts were by Wozniak with 19 in the second meeting against La Crosse, 17 Monday in the WIAC playoff game against River Falls and 15 in the second game against Platteville. The 17 boards against River Falls represented a new WIAC tournament single game record, eclipsing the mark of 15 set by Jamie Vosters against Eau Claire in the 2000 tournament.