EAU CLAIRE - With the loss today at UW-Whitewater, the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team will be the No. 3-seed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament and host the No.6-seed UW-La Crosse on Monday night at Zorn Arena.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the WIAC Tournament since it began in 1999. Since then the Blugolds have won three conference tournament titles, tied with UW-Stout, while the Eagles have advanced to the semifinal round only once, last season.

The Blugolds finished the regular season with a 17-8 overall record and an 11-5 WIAC record. The 11 conference wins are a three-game improvement from last season when Eau Claire finished 8-8. The Blugolds are 7-1 all-time in quarterfinal games. Another bit of good news for the Blugolds is that the three-seed has made it to the championship game the last two years.

The Eagles ended the regular season today with a 72-68 defeat to regular season champion and No. 18-ranked UW-Stout. La Crosse finished the regular season with a 13-12 overall record and a 7-9 WIAC record.

Both teams split the regular season series as both won on their respective home courts. The Eagles handed Eau Claire its first conference loss back in early December with a 68-51 victory in La Crosse. That was the Eagles' largest margin of victory over the Blugolds since the 1986-87 season. The Blugolds were only down five at the half, but did not get any closer in the second half. La Crosse shot 19 more free throws than Eau Claire and made 15 more than the Blugolds. Amanda Zenner (Jr.-Medford, WI) had a double-double for Eau Claire as she led the Blugolds in scoring with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Wagner led the Eagles with 17 points.

Eau Claire returned the favor to the Eagles in the second meeting as it defeated La Crosse 66-49. That was the Eagles second-worst defeat of the season. After a close game early the Blugolds out-scored La Crosse 25-5 over the span of 13 minutes in the second half to pull away. Heidi Arciszewski (So.-Thorp, WI) had a game-high 19 points for Eau Claire, while Michelle Burns (Jr.-Eau Claire, WI/North) added 14 points and led the team with seven rebounds. Katy Searing led the Eagles with 17 points.

The Blugolds finished 11-0 at home this season and have won their 15 contests at Zorn Arena. The Eagles were just 1-7 on the road in conference games. Prior to this season, the Eagles had won two of the last three games at Zorn Arena. Home teams are 50-8 all-time in the tournament.

Michelle Burns led Eau Claire in scoring in the regular season, averaging 12.3 points per game. She averaged 11.7 in conference games and averaged 10 points per game against La Crosse. Heidi Arciszewski averaged 12.1 points per game during the season and 13.5 points per game against the Eagles.

Katy Searing led the Eagles in scoring during the regular season as she averaged 11.6 points per game. She averaged 11.5 against the Blugolds. Mackenzie Hunter averaged 11.4 points per game and averaged 11 points against Eau Claire.

The WIAC Quarterfinal tip-off between the Blugolds and the Eagles is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday night at Zorn Arena.

WIAC Tournament Web site

- JR -