Issued: November 29, 2002

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BLOWS OUT HAMLINE

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team came one point shy of the century mark as they topped Hamline University 99-41 in the first round of the UWEC Thanksgiving Showcase Tournament here tonight at W.L. Zorn Arena. Eau Claire will face Northwestern in tomorrow nights championship game.

The Blugolds have scored 100 points or more 11 times in school history, most recently in 1999 when they defeated UW-Stout 100-68. With the victory the Blugolds remain undefeated at 4-0 while Hamline drops to 0-2 on the season.

Eau Claire dominated almost every aspect of the game as they out-rebounded Hamline by 10 while forcing 27 turnovers and 17 steals. They held Hamline to just 25 percent shooting while the Blugolds sank over 55 percent from the floor.

The Blugolds started out hot with back to back three-pointers by Janel Soppeland (Sr-Cadott) and Katie Murphy (So-La Crosse/Aquinas). They scored 17 straight points before Hamline got on the board with a free throw. It wasn't until the 9:13 mark in the second half that Hamline scored its first field goal. Eau Claire finished the first half with a 48-16 lead.

The Blugolds did not let up in the second half as they scored 51 points to Hamline's 25. Kristi Channing (Sr-Fall Creek) led all Blugolds in scoring with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Channing was also perfect from the charity stripe making all four free throws she attempted. Emilee Planert (So-Eau Claire/North) and Emily Anderson (Fr-Hudson) also hit double-digits in scoring with 11 and 10 points respectively. All but one Blugold scored at least two points in the game.

Soppeland, who finished with eight points, also grabbed a team-best six rebounds while Murphy dished out a game-high six assists. Becca Spaeth (Jr-Chippewa Falls/Chi-Hi) finished with a season best five blocks.

In the first game of the tournament Northwestern squeaked out a 66-63 victory over Viterbo College. Jessica Emert scored a game-high 23 points for Northwestern while teammate Katie Lueke contributed 18. Lindsey Klatt of Viterbo scored 20 points in the loss. The story of the game was the rebounding battle as Northwestern grabbed 43 boards to Viterbo's 25. As a result, Northwestern outscored Viterbo 32-14 in the paint.

Tomorrow night's championship game between Eau Claire and Northwestern will be held at 8:00 in W.L. Zorn Arena. The consolation game between Hamline and Viterbo will tip-off at 6:00.

Eau Claire-Hamline Box