Issued: March 1, 2003

WOMEN TOP TITANS TO CLAIM WIAC TOURNAMENT TITLE

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team used a 12-0 run early in the first half to turn a 12-9 deficit into a lead it would never relinquish as the Blugolds topped UW-Oshkosh 64-50 to claim Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship here tonight at W.L. Zorn Arena.

The Blugolds won the tournament title for the third time in the last four years in front of a near capacity crowd of more than 2,000 people. With the victory the Blugolds receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Eau Claire's record moves to 27-1 with the victory while Oshkosh falls to 22-6. Eau Claire has defeated Oshkosh three times this season.

The match up between the Blugolds and Titans was destined to be a great one as Eau Claire came into the game ranked first in the country according to D3hoops.com while Oshkosh ranked 23rd in the land.

Eau Claire used strong free-throw shooting to top the Titans as they hit 19-of-22 from the line. The 86.4 percent clip is good for second in all-time tournament history. Eau Claire also grabbed 44 rebounds to Oshkosh's 29, including limiting the Titans' second chances by grabbing 29 defensive rebounds and allowing just 12 Oshkosh rebounds on the offensive glass.

The first half started out with each teams trading a pair of baskets. The Titans then hit back-to-back shots to take an 8-4 advantage. The Blugolds responded with a three-point shot from Katie Murphy (So-La Crosse/Aquinas) to pull within one. Eau Claire regained the lead on the next possession with a lay up by Kristi Channing (Sr-Fall Creek) however the Titans again hit back-to-back buckets to take a 12-9 lead.

Determined not to get engaged in a back-and-forth battle, the Blugolds went on a 12-0 run, powered by four points from Becca Spaeth (Jr-Chippewa Falls/Chi-Hi) and three apiece from Murphy and Brooke Wozniak (Jr-Stanley/Stanley-Boyd). Eau Claire protected the lead and never trailed the rest of the way. The Titans did keep the game close as they cut the lead to four twice in the first half but Murphy hit the final shot of the half to give Eau Claire a 31-25 halftime advantage. Channing led the way at the break with 12 points.

After trading two-point shots early in the second half, the Blugolds made use of a defensive stop as Janel Soppeland (Sr-Cadott) hit a huge shot from downtown to give Eau Claire the largest lead of the game at 11 points. The Blugolds built on the double-digit lead for most of the second half, stretching the advantage to as much as 18. The Titans cut the lead to 12 with 2:21 to play but it was too little and too late for Oshkosh to upend the number one team in the land as the Blugolds earned the WIAC Tournament Championship and an automatic bid the 2003 NCAA Division III Tournament set to begin this Wednesday.

Channing led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Spaeth also grabbed eight boards and scored 10 points while Wozniak totaled a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Soppeland also had a strong performance with nine points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Katie Murphy also finished with nine points.

Kay Mikolajczak led all Titan scorers with 17 points while also grabbing five rebounds.

The pairings for the first round of the NCAA Tourney will be announced tomorrow evening.

Eau Claire-Oshkosh Box