HOLLAND, MI - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team started its 2006-07 campaign tonight but lost 68-50 to sixth-ranked Baldwin-Wallace College (OH) in the Hope College Tip-Off Tourney.

Eau Claire has not lost a season opener in at least seven seasons. The Blugolds are expected to take third in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) behind UW-Stout and UW-Stevens Point. They took fifth in the conference last year on a 13-13 season. The Blugolds have not finished a season below .500 for 19 seasons. They have never faced Baldwin-Wallace before.

This was also the first game for the Yellow Jackets, who are predicted to repeat in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) after winning the regular season and going 27-5 last year. Baldwin-Wallace also made it to Elite Eight in the national tourney.

The Blugolds fell in an early hole today and faced a 5-21 deficit at 10:14 to play in the half. The team pulled to within 10 at 7:59 after a jumper by Michelle Burns (Jr.-Eau Claire/North), who had 10 points in the half to lead the team. After the 11-21 score, the Yellow Jackets outscored Eau Claire 16-7 the rest of the first and went into halftime ahead by a 37-18 score.

Eau Claire shot 19.4% for the first half with Burns providing the bulk of the offense at 10 points and four rebounds. Eau Claire had 11 fouls compared to seven for Baldwin-Wallace. The Yellow Jackets also out-rebounded Eau Claire 33-14. Baldwin-Wallace shot 44.1% in the half with Selena Eskinazi-Budge totaling 13 points. Stacia Shrider had 10 of the 33 rebounds.

Eau Claire came out in the second half and scored the first seven points to pull to 25-39 with Heidi Arciszewski (So.-Thorp) providing three of the points and two rebounds. By 13:16, however, the Yellow Jackets pulled to a large 50-27 lead. Eau Claire outscored Baldwin-Wallace 23-18 the rest of the way but could not overcome the deficit.

The Blugolds put more second half points on the board then the opponent by a 32-31 margin as they shot 41.2% in the second half, an improvement of 21.8%. Overall Eau Claire shot 30.8%. They went 0-for-8 from long range and made 10-of-12 from the line for 83.3%. Eau Claire only had 16 turnovers compared to the Yellow Jacket 23, but the Blugolds were out-rebounded for the game 52-to-33.

Burns had 21 of the Blugold points and eight of the rebounds to lead in both categories. Brittanni Hakanson (So.-Wheeler/Boyceville) scored eight points and Amanda Zenner (Jr.-Medford) had six boards, both good for second behind Burns' numbers.

The Yellow Jackets had a field goal percentage of 41.0% while going 30.8% for three-pointers with four. At the line the team shot 73.7%.

Eskinazi-Budge's 22 points led for the Yellow Jackets with Carly Flowers the only other one in double-digits with 10. Shrider led the way with 13 rebounds.

Eau Claire will finish up the Tip-Off Tourney tomorrow when it faces Davenport University (MI) in the consolation game, who fell to defending national champion Hope College (MI) 95-66. The game is at noon.

Eau Claire-Baldwin-Wallace Box Score

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