STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Despite holding an early lead, the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team dropped its final regular season game against conference rival and 23rd-ranked UW-Stevens Point 66-55 tonight.
The Blugolds held a lead almost the entire first half and headed into the locker room up by one, with a score of 30-29. Eau Claire led by as many as nine points (26-17) with 6:32 remaining in the opening half.
But Stevens Point came out hungry in the second half, scoring the first four points and increasing their lead to as much as 19 points with less than six minutes left to play in the game. The Pointers outscored the Blugolds 32-12 in the first 14 minutes of the second half and Eau Claire never recovered.
Courtney Lewis (So.-Prairie Du Chien, Wis.) led the Blugolds in scoring, finishing the night with 11 points. Sarah Bingea (Sr.-Delano, Minn.) also added 10 points of her own to go along with seven rebounds. Senior Casteele Miller (Stanley, Wis./Eau Claire Regis) and freshman Teenie Lichtfuss (Oshkosh, Wis./Lourdes) both gave the team eight points.
UW-Stevens Point shot 39.7 percent (23-for-58) from the field as UW-Eau Claire went 19-for-53 (35.8 percent). The Pointers also narrowly beat UWEC from behind the arc, going 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) while Eau Claire shot 41.7 percent (5-for-12). Both teams shot 85.7 percent (12-for-14) from the free throw line on the night. Stevens Point grabbed 40 rebounds for the game as Eau Claire snagged 32.
The Blugolds finished the regular season with an 11-14 record and 6-10 in the WIAC. Stevens Point went 20-5 overall and 12-4 in WIAC.
Eau Claire will be back in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at UW-Stevens Point as they head into the first round of WIAC tournament play. The Blugolds are the No. 6 seed in the postseason tournament while the Pointers are the No. 3 seed.
-MW-