Women's Basketball Hosts Whitewater Tuesday

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Posted: Monday, January 31, 2005

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's basketball team will look for its fourth straight victory this Tuesday when they host UW-Whitewater at 7:00 p.m. at W.L. Zorn Arena.

The Blugolds and Warhawks come into Tuesday's game with identical 13-7 records on the season and 6-5 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The first meeting this season between the two teams was a thriller that saw the Warhawks hit a three-point shot as the buzzer sounded for a 69-66 win in Whitewater on January 12.

Jessica Dickey (Sr.-White Bear Lake, MN/Cretin-Derham Hall) played a strong all-around game scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-of-22 shooting. Dickey also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go along with a game-high three steals. Joanna Leafblad (Sr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) finished with 19 points including 5 of 8 from behind the three point arc.

Eau Claire struggled from the field throughout shooting 32.4 percent from the field. The Blugold defense played tough in the first half holding the Warhawks to only 31 percent shooting but allowed Whitewater to shoot 46.2 percent in the second half.

Tuesday's game will be a match up of the top two free-throw shooting teams in the WIAC. The Warhawks come in tops in the conference at 74.4 percent from the charity stripe while the Blugolds are second at 72.5 percent. Eau Claire is also the best team in the conference in terms of turnover margin at +4.65 and assist/turnover ratio at 1.01.

Dickey comes in leading the Blugolds with 11.9 points per game, good for 10th overall in the conference. Michelle Burns (Fr.-Eau Claire/North) is second on the team and 11th in the WIAC with 11.4 points per game and also leads the team with 6.8 points per game, fifth in the conference. Rachel Becker (Jr.-Gilmanton) is coming off of a career week which saw her post 23 assists in two games. She finished the week with 23 assists, 20 points, six rebounds, and five steals as the Blugolds grabbed home wins against UW-Superior and UW-La Crosse. Becker leads the WIAC with 108 assists, 30 more than the runner up.

Leading the Warhawks is Nya Geschke with 12.1 points per game, good for eighth in the WIAC. Lindsey Buechner is the top rebounder on the team and 12th in the conference with 5.8 per game. The Warhawks are winners of four of their last five games, including an 82-57 home win over Superior on Saturday.

The all-time series between the two teams favors the Blugolds, as Eau Claire has posted a record of 35-16 against Whitewater. Prior to the loss earlier this season, the Blugolds had won 12 straight against the Warhawks.

The action is set to kick off this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at W.L. Zorn Arena.