SUPERIOR, Wis. (blugolds.com) – University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's basketball coach
Tonja Englund earned the 400th victory of her career when the Blugolds defeated UW-Superior 54-32 on Wednesday. Englund, in her 24th season as the Blugolds' head coach, joins an elite group of coaches nationwide who have earned 400 wins.
Englund is now one of only 35 active Division III coaches with at least 400 wins. She ranks in the top 25 in the 400-win club with a .640 winning percentage and is just outside the top 100 in all-time coaching victories in Division III. She can crack the top 100 with six more wins.
Englund is one of only four coaches in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) history to hit 400 career victories. She is one of two active coaches in the league to have surpassed the milestone.
Englund took over the Blugolds' head coaching role in 2000 and has averaged just over 17 wins per season in her first 23 years in charge. She is UW-Eau Claire's all-time leader in women's basketball victories. Her first win came on November 17, 2000, when the Blugolds defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 79-39. Twenty-three years later, Englund's Blugolds are still stacking victories. She has guided them to the NCAA Tournament seven times, reached one Final Four, and won four WIAC regular-season championships.
To get Englund's 400th win, the Blugolds used a suffocating defense and a second-half surge. A low-scoring first half saw UW-Eau Claire carry a slim 19-18 lead into the third quarter, but the Blugolds heated up to start pulling away. They used an 11-0 run early in the period to go ahead by double figures and kept a comfortable lead the rest of the way.
UW-Eau Claire held UW-Superior to single-figure scoring in three of the four quarters. They held the Yellowjackets to 23% shooting from the field and forced 24 turnovers. The Blugolds had 16 steals, their highest total since getting 16 against UW-Stevens Point on January 18, 2020.
Olivia Pekron (Jr. – Forest Lake, Minn.) and
Kylie Mogen (Sr. – Menomonie, Wis.) both recorded a double-double for a second straight game. Both scored 12 points, and had 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively.
Kylie Strop (Jr. – River Falls, Wis.) added nine points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists. Mogen and
Anna Koth (Jr. – Maple Grove, Minn.) had three steals each.
The Blugolds' next game is Saturday, December 16. They visit University of Northwestern (Minn.), with tip-off set for 1 p.m. in St. Paul.
