Women's Basketball Plays Host To La Crosse Saturday

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Posted: Thursday, January 27, 2005

EAU CLAIRE - Coming off a 93-76 win over UW-Superior that saw the Blugolds match or tie five personal career highs, the UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team will look for its third straight win Saturday when they host UW-La Crosse at 5:00 p.m. at W.L. Zorn Arena.

Tuesday's win over Superior saw the Blugolds post a season-high 93 points. Jessica Dickey (Sr.-White Bear Lake, MN/Cretin-Derham Hall) highlighted a strong all-around game with a career-high nine steals. Dickey flirted with a triple-double throughout the night as she finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Rachel Becker (Jr.-Gilmanton) set a career-high with 11 assists, Becca Carstensen (Sr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) set a career-high with 14 points and Joanna Leafblad (Sr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) matched her career-high in points with 19 and three-pointers made with five.

The win moved the Blugolds to 12-7 on the season and 5-5 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, tying them for fourth in the conference with UW-River Falls and UW-Whitewater. Eau Claire topped UW-Platteville last Saturday, ending a three-game losing skid that was tied for the longest of the season.

Dickey leads the Blugolds in scoring this season with an average of 12.1 points per game. She is second on the team with 37 steals and fourth on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game. Newcomer Michelle Burns (Fr.-Eau Claire/North) is having a fantastic debut season, leading the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and scoring a team second-best 11.2 points per game. Becker is third on the team with 10.4 points per game and third with 5.0 rebounds per game.

La Crosse comes into the weekend with an overall record of 10-8 but a conference mark of just 3-6, third last in the WIAC. The Eagles are losers of four of their last five games, including Tuesday's 73-59 home loss to UW-Stevens Point.

Leslie Matson leads the Eagles with 11.1 points per game and is second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game. Shawna Koss and Jana Merchlewitz have posted nearly identical numbers on the season, with Koss averaging 10.8 and 4.2 rebounds per game and Merchlewitz posting 10.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Katy Searing is also having a fine season, averaging a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game to go along with 9.4 points per game.

The Blugolds will be looking to avenge a 48-47 road loss to La Crosse earlier this season. Burns led the Blugolds with 16 points and eight rebounds in the loss while Becker added 12 points and seven rebounds.

The all-time series between the two teams favors the Blugolds, with Eau Claire posting a 32-15 record against the Eagles. The Blugolds have lost the last two contests against La Crosse, but had won 26 straight games before last February's 60-57 loss at Zorn Arena.

The action is all part of a doubleheader between the Blugolds and Eagles. The women will kickoff the doubleheader at 5:00 p.m. while the men will battle at 7:30 p.m.