Blugold women upset No. 2 Whitewater
Packed Zorn Arena energizes game play as Eau Claire
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: Sports
Senior Heather Witt scored 28 points and collected four steals Saturday evening to help lead the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team to a 71-50 rout against UW-Whitewater.
The win shot the Blugolds past the Warhawks to second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, just one spot behind league leader UW-Stevens Point.
The win also earned the Blugolds a bit of revenge after losing on the road to the very same team three weeks earlier.
"This was the most complete and inspirational game that this team has played yet," coach Tonja Englund said. "It's exciting for our coaching staff because we've seen this in the team for awhile - I don't think the team has seen that they could be this good."
Eau Claire seemed to have little trouble breaking past Whitewater's full-court press defense, and a solid defensive performance by Eau Claire forced Whitewater's players to work the perimeter for most of their points; the Warhawks were allowed just 12 points in the paint all night to Eau Claire's 28.
"We were well-prepared by our coaching staff over this week," Witt said about the team's ability to break through the full-court press. "We just knew we had to hit our key people, we did that and we broke the press pretty easily."
The Blugolds trailed for the first few minutes of the game, but an eight-point run about six minutes into the first half put Eau Claire up 14-8 and forced Whitewater to play catch-up for the rest of the evening.
The Warhawks narrowed the gap to three points several times in the first half, but that was as close as Whitewater got to reclaiming the lead, as Eau Claire went on to extend the margin to 11 points by halftime and to as many as 23 in the second.
Witt, who more than doubled her 13 points-per-game average, finished the first half with 12 points - six from behind the arc. Half of her team-high 28 points came on fastbreak layups.
Season scoring leader, senior Heidi Arciszewski, added 13 points of her own, most in the first half.
Senior Pam Kaye was the only other Blugold to put up double-digit numbers Saturday, scoring 12 of the team's 14 bench points. Kaye also nearly led the team in rebounds with six, trailing only sophomore Hannah Mesick, who came down with seven Blugold boards.
Eau Claire will play road games against UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls and the University of South Dakota before playing its last regular-season home game against UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 11.
"We now need to go on the road and win on the road to set up that opportunity to beat Stevens Point at home," Englund said. "We're just trying to play solid, great basketball right now into February so that we have that confidence rolling as we get into the playoffs."
The win shot the Blugolds past the Warhawks to second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, just one spot behind league leader UW-Stevens Point.
The win also earned the Blugolds a bit of revenge after losing on the road to the very same team three weeks earlier.
"This was the most complete and inspirational game that this team has played yet," coach Tonja Englund said. "It's exciting for our coaching staff because we've seen this in the team for awhile - I don't think the team has seen that they could be this good."
Eau Claire seemed to have little trouble breaking past Whitewater's full-court press defense, and a solid defensive performance by Eau Claire forced Whitewater's players to work the perimeter for most of their points; the Warhawks were allowed just 12 points in the paint all night to Eau Claire's 28.
"We were well-prepared by our coaching staff over this week," Witt said about the team's ability to break through the full-court press. "We just knew we had to hit our key people, we did that and we broke the press pretty easily."
The Blugolds trailed for the first few minutes of the game, but an eight-point run about six minutes into the first half put Eau Claire up 14-8 and forced Whitewater to play catch-up for the rest of the evening.
The Warhawks narrowed the gap to three points several times in the first half, but that was as close as Whitewater got to reclaiming the lead, as Eau Claire went on to extend the margin to 11 points by halftime and to as many as 23 in the second.
Witt, who more than doubled her 13 points-per-game average, finished the first half with 12 points - six from behind the arc. Half of her team-high 28 points came on fastbreak layups.
Season scoring leader, senior Heidi Arciszewski, added 13 points of her own, most in the first half.
Senior Pam Kaye was the only other Blugold to put up double-digit numbers Saturday, scoring 12 of the team's 14 bench points. Kaye also nearly led the team in rebounds with six, trailing only sophomore Hannah Mesick, who came down with seven Blugold boards.
Eau Claire will play road games against UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls and the University of South Dakota before playing its last regular-season home game against UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 11.
"We now need to go on the road and win on the road to set up that opportunity to beat Stevens Point at home," Englund said. "We're just trying to play solid, great basketball right now into February so that we have that confidence rolling as we get into the playoffs."
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