Issued: December 30, 2002

BLUGOLDS WIN SLOPPY BATTLE AGAINST TRINITY

SAN ANTONIO, TX - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team overcame 36 turnovers and a late second half run by the Tigers en route to defeating Trinity University from Texas 65-59 here today at Sams Gymnasium.

The win improves the Blugold's record to 10-1 overall while Trinity loses its second game in a row and drops its record to 5-4 on the season.

The Blugolds won the game by shooting 46.5 percent from the field while allowing the Tigers to hit just 34.5 percent of their shots. Both teams combined for 62 turnovers and nearly 60 missed field goals.

After trailing 4-2 very early in the game the Blugolds caught fire from the field shooting nearly 54 percent in the first half while holding the Tigers to under 27 percent from the floor. Eau Claire steadily built its lead throughout the half and took a 38-21 halftime lead into the locker room.

Eau Claire picked up where it left off in the second half and extended its lead to 20 with 16 minutes remaining in the game. The Tigers of Trinity bounced back by forcing many costly Blugold turnovers and with just over 12 minutes to go in the game the Blugold lead was cut to 10. Trinity continued its strong defense and cashed in on more Blugold mistakes to cut the lead to just two points with one minute remaining in the contest. The Blugolds stayed focused however, and hit five of six free throws down the stretch to escape from San Antonio with the victory.

Kristi Channing (Sr-Fall Creek) and Janel Soppeland (Sr-Cadott) came up big for the Blugolds scoring 17 and 16 points respectively. The pair of seniors were the only players in double digits for the Blugolds. Brooke Wozniak (Jr-Stanley/Stanley-Boyd) helped the Blugolds take a 37-30 rebounding advantage by grabbing a game-best 10 rebounds in the victory.

Claire Allan and Amy Howe led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points each while Howe also added a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.

The Blugolds will remain in Texas overnight and battle Texas Lutheran University tomorrow afternoon. Texas Lutheran comes into tomorrow's match-up with a 1-6 record on the season. Tip-off is set to begin at 2:00.

Eau Claire-Trinity Box