MENOMONIE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The 22nd-ranked UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team completed the season sweep of UW-Stout with a 72-40 victory over the Blue Devils at Johnson Fieldhouse today.
In a game which the Blugolds never trailed, they started out with a 10-0 lead, while Stout went scoreless over the first four and a half minutes.
Stout got back to within three points with more than six minutes to play in the first half but the Blugolds closed the opening half on a 7-3 run to take a seven-point lead (26-19) into halftime.
In the second half, the Blue Devils again started slow, not scoring for almost five minutes as the Blugolds build a 15-point lead (34-19).
The Blugolds steadily increased their lead throughout the second half and got up by as many as 36 points on their way to the 32-point victory.
Ellen Plendl (Sr.-Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell) led the Blugolds with a double-double, her 12th of the season. She finished with a game-high 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.
Three other Blugolds reached double-figures in scoring as Callie Halama (Sr.-Independence, Wis.) had 13 while Sarah Bingea (Jr.-Delano, Minn.) and Nicole Christianson (Sr.-Chetek, Wis.)both came away with 10.
The Blugolds finished the game shooting 52 percent (26-for-50) from the field to 22.6 percent (12-for-53) for Stout. While both teams committed 23 turnovers, the Blugolds managed 23 points off the Blue Devils' miscues while Stout had just 10.
Eau Claire improves to 18-5 overall and 11-3 in the WIAC while Stout falls to 6-17 overall and 2-12 in the conference. Earlier this season the Blugolds beat Stout 77-43.
Wednesday the Blugolds will be at home for a game against UW-Platteville. Designated as Coaches vs. Cancer Night, tipoff is set for 7 p.m.