EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team went on a scoring run and played great defense in the end of the second half to get the win tonight against UW-La Crosse, 60-53.

This win keeps the Blugolds undefeated in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play with a 9-0 record and a 15-3 overall record. The Blugold women are ranked 25th in the D3hoops.com poll. This loss drops La Crosse to 4-5 in WIAC play and 9-9 overall. The Eagles were snapped of a three game winning streak.

La Crosse went on a run with 5:50 left in the game scoring eight straight points to take the lead 47-46. The Blugolds would respond with four straight free throws from Amanda Zenner (Sr.-Medford, WI) to take the lead back with 3:32 left in the game with the score being 50-47. Heidi Arciszewski (Jr.-Thorp, WI) would add two more free throws and Kali Houselog (Sr.-Neenah, WI/St. Mary Central) had a big layup to make it a five point lead, 54-49. Adding to the lead would be Michelle Burns (Sr.-Eau Claire, WI/North) who had a layup and Arciszewski would add two more free throws. La Crosse would answer with two Mackenzie Hunter layups, but Zenner closed the door with two free throws with 13 seconds left to get the 60-53 win.

In the first half the Blugold defense was stifling. La Crosse went on a 10 minute scoring drought to start the first half. In the meantime, Ashley Anderson (Jr.-Oakdale, MN/North St. Paul) made the most of her minutes getting two big baskets for the Blugolds. Zenner and Arciszewski were big and were scoring and assisting each other all night. The Blugolds would increase the lead to 16 with 3:12 left in the half before La Crosse went on a small run scoring seven unanswered points to make the Blugold lead nine at half with a 27-18 score.

The Blugolds shot 40 percent from the field, 27 percent from three point distance, and 61 percent from the charity stripe. The Eagles shot 44 percent from the field, 11 percent from three point range, and 62 percent from the free throw line. The Blugolds had nine offensive rebounds compared to the Eagles' five. The Blugolds had 20 turnovers and the Eagles had 21.

Leading all scorers was Hunter who had 19, but the balanced Blugold attack got the victory. Arciszewski had 16 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Zenner had 11 points, going 7-7 from the free throw line. Michelle Burns had 12 points. Heather Witt (Jr.-Kendall, WI/Royall) had five steals.

Up next for the Blugolds is UW-Superior next Wednesday. The action starts at 7 p.m. in Superior.

Eau Claire-La Crosse Box Score

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