EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team defeated UW-La Crosse 67-62 in today's Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Quarterfinal at Zorn Arena to advance to the WIAC Semifinals on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Blugolds will face No. 7 seed UW-Platteville on Wednesday at Zorn Arena after the Pioneers upset second-seeded UW-Whitewater 75-74 tonight. Eau Claire is 12-0 at Zorn Arena this season. They also have never lost a WIAC Tournament quarterfinal, dating back to 1999.

The Blugolds found themselves down early tonight as La Crosse was up seven at 14:00. The Blugolds then knocked it to a 13-10 game at 12:35. The Eagles went on an 11-to-4 run to make it 24-14 at 8:30. Eau Claire kept fighting and fought the deficit back down to two at 2:49 with a 32-30 score. With 1:04 left in the first half, the Blugolds took their first lead off a Rachel Mueggenborg (Jr.-West Salem) three-pointer that made it 35-34. They closed out the half down 38-37.

Eau Claire shot 42.9% while going 1-of-7 on threes and 6-of-7 from the line. La Crosse went 66.7% from the floor as it connected on 3-of-4 three-pointers and 7-of-8 free throws. The Blugolds held the advantage in points off of turnovers 12-to-5, but La Crosse had more bench points by the same 12-to-5 margin.

The Blugolds went back on top at 18:51 in the second half due to a Heidi Arciszewski (So.-Thorp) three that made it 40-38. The score grew to 45-38 at 17:29 before the Eagles began chipping away at Eau Claire's largest lead of the night. By 14:42 it was tied up. It was a back-and-forth battle for a while, with no team leading by three or more until 5:42. The half saw four ties and eight lead changes. After 5:42, the Blugold lead fluctuated between four and six as they went on to win 67-62.

Eau Claire shot 40.0% for the game while making 3-of-14 from long range and 16-of-22 for 72.7% from the line. They won the turnover battle 9-to-20 and scored more off turnovers by a 20-to-9 edge. It's the least turnovers Eau Claire has had all year.

Arciszewski led all scorers with 22 points. It is her second-highest total this season and ties for fourth-highest amongst all Blugolds. Heather Witt (So.-Kendall/Royall) had 13 points and a WIAC Tournament game record seven steals. The seven takeaways are also most for a Blugold this year and her career high. Brittanni Hakanson (So.-Wheeler/Boyceville) scored 11 while Michelle Burns (Jr.-Eau Claire/North) was also in double figures with 10. Hakanson's 11 boards were most for the team.

La Crosse made 45.3% of its shots while making 4-of-9 threes and 10-of-13 free throws. The Eagles outrebounded Eau Claire 42-to-30.

Nicole Palmer had 12 points to lead the team while Amanda Waldvogel had 11 and Katy Searing had 10. Searing led in rebounds with 16.

Eau Claire will face Platteville Wednesday at Zorn Arena. The Blugolds defeated the Pioneers both times this season, once by a 58-41 score and the other time by a 59-51 tally. The Blugolds went 11-5 in WIAC play during the regular season while Platteville went 4-12. Semifinal action will start at 7 p.m. this Wednesday.

WIAC Quarterfinal Box Score

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