WHITEWATER - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team lost its third straight game tonight and remains winless in conference play as it lost to UW-Whitewater 85-71.

The loss drops the Blugolds to 5-8 overall and 0-4 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) action. The win gives the Warhawks an 8-5 overall record and a 2-2 WIAC record.

The Warhawks jumped out of the gate quickly scoring the first seven points of the ball game. Rachel Mueggenborg's (So.-West Salem, WI/Southeast Missouri St.) three-pointer at 16:33 was the Blugolds first points to make the score 7-3. Unfortunately, that's as close as the Blugolds would get in the game.

The Warhawks lead would gradually grow throughout the first half and Whitewater went into halftime with a 38-26 lead. The Blugolds shot 41.4% in the first half, while the Warhawks shot 50%. The Blugolds committed 11 turnovers in the half compared to just six for Whitewater.

The Blugolds would cut the lead to eight at the beginning of the second half after an Ashley Anderson (Fr.-Oakdale, MN/North St. Paul) layup, however the Warhawks would go on a 9-0 run to extend the lead back to 17 with 15:39 remaining in the game.

The Whitewater lead would grow to as high as 22 before the Blugolds would cut into that margin, but it wasn't enough as the Warhawks went onto win 85-71.

The Warhawks ended up shooting 53.6% for the game, while the Blugolds shot just 44.3%. The Warhawks shot well from beyond the arc, connecting on eight of their 15 three-point shots.

Leading the way in scoring for the Blugolds was Brittanni Hakanson (Fr.-Wheeler, WI/Boyceville), who 16 points off the bench. Heidi Arciszewski (Fr.-Thorp, WI) added 14 points and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

Up next the Blugolds will host UW-Oshkosh on Saturday in the first game of a men's and women's doubleheader to be held in Zorn Arena. The action gets underway at 5 p.m.

Eau Claire-Whitewater Box Score

- JR -