EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The UW-Eau Claire women's team moved on to the championship game of its annual Thanksgiving Showcase with a 80-45 victory over St. Olaf College at Zorn Arena tonight.

From the opening tipoff the Blugolds controlled the game, hitting a three-pointer to open up scoring. Eau Claire went on to score five more points before St. Olaf could find the basket to make the score 8-0. The Blugolds steadily increased their lead throughout the first half and took a 51-23 lead into the half. In the first half alone, the Blugolds were 20-for-30 from the field (66.7 percent) and went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Heidi Arciszewski (Sr.-Thorp, Wis.) and Heather Witt (Sr.-Kendall, Wis./Royall) took double-digit point totals into the half, scoring 13 and 15, respectively.

Eau Claire once again got into a groove and started the second half on an 8-2 run. With just under 13 minutes to go, the Blugolds reached their largest lead of the night, 40 points. The Oles were only able to close to within 31 points after that.

For the game the Blugolds were 7-for-14 from the three-point line (50.0 percent) and 31-for-59 from the field (52.5 percent). St. Olaf was only 29.8 percent from the field tonight, making 14 out of 47 shots.

In all, 13 Blugolds scored at least one point in tonight's contest. Witt led all scorers this evening with 18 points, while Jodi Lindner (Jr.-Neillsville, Wis.) pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Arciszewski, Missy Fremstad (Sr.-Osseo, Wis./Osseo-Fairchild) and Hannah Mesick (So.-Chatfield, Minn.) all reached double-figure point totals tonight as well. Arciszewski came up with 13, while Fremstad added 11 and Mesick contributed 10. Fremstad also had a team-high five assists tonight.

St. Olaf was led by Elyse Erickson, who scored 12 points, and Jamie Erdahl also reached double-digits with 10. Britta Erickson led the team with eight rebounds.

The Blugolds are now 4-0 on the season while St. Olaf drops to 0-2.

Tomorrow the Blugolds will face conference opponent UW-Stevens Point in the championship game of the Thanksgiving Showcase. The non-conference matchup is set to begin at 8 p.m. in Zorn Arena. St. Olaf will take on Luther College, who lost to Stevens Point on Friday in the first game Friday 75-46, at 6 p.m. in the consolation contest.

Eau Claire-St. Olaf Box Score

- KM -