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Issued: January 22, 2007

WIAC SHOWDOWN IN STORE FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

EAU CLAIRE – The UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team carries a three-game winning streak into Wednesday’s contest at UW-Stout that pits the top two teams in the conference against each other.

The Blugolds are 6-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and 12-6 overall. The WIAC-leading Blue Devils are 8-1 in the conference and 15-3 overall. The lone Blue Devil WIAC loss was a 59-44 game to Eau Claire on November 29th at Zorn Arena. The all-time series record benefits Eau Claire by a 40-21 margin.

Eau Claire has gone 3-6 on the road while going 9-0 at home. Stout is also perfect at home, going 5-0. Both the Blugolds and Blue Devils are coming off of heavy-sided victories. Eau Claire won 66-49 Saturday over UW-La Crosse and Stout, ranked 12th in the D3Hoops.com poll and tied for 14th in the USA Today ESPN poll, defeated UW-Platteville 84-65.

Eau Claire is tops in the conference in free throw percentage (77.8%) and in turnover margin (+3.1). Its 0.78 assist-to-turnover ratio is just below UW-Stevens Point’s top mark of 0.79. The Blugolds have shot 39.8% thus far while opponents have gone 37.7%. From behind the arc Eau Claire is 28.2% while opponents are 27.4%. The rebounding margin is just about even. The Blugolds average 60.8 points per game while holding opponents to 57.1.

Michelle Burns (Jr.-Eau Claire/North) has been the offensive leader with 13.3 points per game and 8.2 boards per game. She is third in the conference for rebounding and fourth for scoring. Her 103 defensive rebounds tie for second and her 47.3% from the floor is good for fourth in the WIAC.

Heidi Arciszewski (So.-Thorp) is averaging 12.8 points per game behind Burns. She has shot 84.0% from the line, third-best in the conference. Amanda Zenner (Jr.-Medford) has 48 assists to lead the team and Heather Witt (So.-Kendall/Royall) has a Blugold-best 34 steals on defense.

Stout has the best scoring offense in the WIAC with 73.3 points per game. It also leads in offensive rebounds (16.7), defensive rebounds (29.3), and blocked shots (4.5). The team ranks second in scoring margin (+11.4), field goal percentage (43.5%), field goal percentage defense (35.9%), rebounding margin (+9.9), and assists (14.8). The Blue Devils are allowing 61.9 points per game.

Kelsey Duoss leads Stout with 15.9 points per game. Her 8.4 rebounds per game and 39 total blocked shots also are tops for the Blue Devils. Duoss is in the top ranks for many categories in the WIAC. She is first in field goal percentage (58.1%), and tied for first in offensive rebounds (2.7). She is second in rebounds, blocked shots per game (2.2), and defensive rebounds (5.7). She also ranks third in scoring.

Amanda Geissler has the most assists per game (3.6) and total steals (25) for Stout. She leads the WIAC in assists and in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.10).

Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. in Menomonie this Wednesday.

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