Issued: March 20, 2003

BLUGOLDS PREPARE FOR FINAL FOUR

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team will be making their third Final Four appearance in less than 24 hours when they go up against Eastern Connecticut State at 8 p.m. in the Hulbert Arena on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute.

The Blugolds, owners of a 22-game win streak, are coming into the Final Four as the number one-ranked team in the nation according to the latest d3hoops.com poll and as the number two-ranked team in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll.

The road to the Final Four for the Blugolds started March 5 when they defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 70-49. They followed the opening round win with an 81-45 victory over Chapman. In the Sweet Sixteen Eau Claire used a late Kristi Channing (Sr.-Fall Creek) jumper to beat Pacific Lutheran 43-41. The Blugolds advanced to the Final Four with a 74-56 win over previously unbeaten Hope College.

If Eau Claire is victorious over Eastern Connecticut State they will go on to face the winner of the Trinity University-University of Rochester game Saturday at 8 p.m.

In previous Final Four appearances for Eau Claire basketball, the Blugolds lost in the championship game 72-70 to New York University in 1997 and lost an overtime game to Washington University 86-82 in the semifinals of the 1994 season.

Coach Tonja Englund is looking to win her first national championship as a coach after winning one as a player on the 1991 University of St. Thomas team. Englund owns a 73-14 record as coach after taking over for Lisa Stone following the 1999-2000 season. Under the guidance of Englund the Blugolds have made two NCAA appearances, have been champions and co-champions of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and have won two WIAC tournament crowns.

This year Eau Claire became only the fifth team to through the WIAC schedule unbeaten since the conference went to a 16-game double round robin format following the 1984-85 season. Previous teams to accomplish the feat are the 1985-86 UW-Whitewater team, the 1995-96 and 1997-98 UW-Oshkosh teams and the 1999-2000 Eau Claire team.

Senior co-captain Channing was named both the WIAC Player of the Year and the WIAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She was also named one of the 10 finalists for the Jostens Award given to the Division III player of the year and a finalist for the Kodak All-American team.

Channing went over the 1000-career point mark earlier in the year and is currently 10th on the all-time Eau Claire scoring list with 1,158 points. She is also 19th on the all-time rebound list with 458 and 21st on the all-time assist list with 126.

Janel Soppeland (Sr.-Cadott) comes into the tournament as the 17th all-time leading scorer in Blugold history with 816 points. Soppeland also ranks 12th on the all-time assist list with 240 and 21st on the all-time rebounding list with 458.

Brooke Wozniak (Jr.-Stanley/Stanley-Boyd) broke the single season rebounding record held by Chris Boos in the game against Hope College. She has 325 rebounds this year good for a 10.2 average. Wozniak now has 495 career rebounds which is good for 15th all-time in Blugold history.

Ten of the 17 players on the Eau Claire team hail from less than an hour's drive away. Joanna Leafblad (So.-Eau Claire/Memorial), Molly Menard (Fr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) and Emilee Planert (Jr.-Eau Claire/North) are from Eau Claire public schools. Channing, Soppeland, Wozniak, Becca Spaeth (Jr.-Chippewa Falls/Chi-Hi), Rachel Becker (Fr.-Gilmanton), Emily Anderson (Fr.-Hudson) and Megan Hanson (Fr.-Hudson) are all within an hour's drive from Eau Claire.

This Blugold team is also very good in the classroom as they had a team grade point average of 3.31 for the first semester this year.

If unable to travel to Terre Haute to watch the tournament in person the game will be aired on Sports Radio AM 1400.