STEVENS POINT - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team saw its season come to an end tonight as it lost to UW-Stevens Point by a score of 84-74 in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament.

The Blugolds finish with a 13-13 overall record, which is the lowest win total the team has had since the 1986-87 season.

This is the first time in the tournament's eight-year existence that the Blugolds will not be playing in the semifinals.

The Pointers would lead throughout in this one as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead at the beginning of the game. They would keep the lead until the 10:40 mark in the first half and that's when Heidi Arciszewski (Fr.-Thorp, WI) would tie the game up at 20 after two free throws.

However, the Pointers would then go on an 11-0 run to go up 31-20 with 6:35 to go in the half. The Pointers would then use a 12-0 run to extend its lead even more and would lead by as much as 21 near the end of the first half. The Pointers would go into halftime with a 49-31 advantage.

The Pointers outscored the Blugolds 20-2 in the paint in the first half. The Pointers shot an impressive 67% from the field in the half, while the Blugolds shot just 30%.

The Pointer-lead would stay in double-figures for the rest of the game. The Blugolds would cut it to 10 at the end of the game on an Arciszewski layup, but the Pointers went on to win 84-74 and remain undefeated at home this season.

The Pointers ended up shooting 52% for the game, while the Blugolds finished at 36%. The Pointers out-rebounded the Blugolds 43-33 in the game.

Freshman Brittanni Hakanson (Fr.-Wheeler, WI/Boyceville) led all scorers with a career-high 23 points for the Blugolds. Arciszewski added 15 points and Rachel Becker (Sr.-Gilmanton, WI) in her final game as a Blugold had 14 points. Becker will finish her career sixth on the all-time assists leaders list for the Blugolds with 332.

Chelsea Kranz led the Pointers in scoring with a career-high 22 points.

Stevens Point will now go on to play UW-Oshkosh in the semifinals Wednesday night.

Eau Claire-Stevens Point Box Score

- JR -