Eau Claire 73, Yellowjackets 56

Offensive struggles happen to most college basketball teams at one time or another.

For the UW-Superior women's basketball team, that time proved to be Wednesday night.  And the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds were only too happy to take advantage.

The Yellowjackets connected on just 30.8 percent of their shots (20-of-65) while UW-Eau Claire hit 58.3 percent (14-of-24) of their attempts after halftime to pull away for a 73-56 victory at Zorn Arena.

UW-Superior dropped their second straight game and fell to 12-8 overall and 5-6 in WIAC play with the loss.  The Blugolds meanwhile improved to 6-15 and 4-8 with the victory.

Neither team found much offense in the early going, resulting in a 10-9 Blugold lead after a three-pointer by Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) with 12:51 left in the opening half.

After trailing 18-13 with 5:06 showing on the clock, the Yellowjackets got five points from Liljander and a jumper from Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) to take their first lead at 20-18 with 3:06 remaining in the stanza.

A layup from Autumn Ackerman (Pine River, Minn./Pine River-Backus) in the final 34 seconds gave the Yellowjackets a 24-22 lead before a basket by UW-Eau Claire's Teenie Lichtfuss evened matters 24-24 heading into the intermission.

The Blugolds began to take control early in the second half however, going on a 14-4 burst in the first 4:30 for a 38-28 cushion on a three-pointer by Madison Johnson with 15:30 left in regulation.

UW-Superior cut the deficit to 42-37 on an inside score by Molly Atherton (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) with 11:54 showing on the clock.

But Lichtfuss came right back with a long three to make it 45-37 and the Yellowjackets never got closer than eight points the rest of the game as UW-Eau Claire went 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) from the free throw line for the game, including going 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) in the second half.

UW-Superior was paced by Linzmeier with a game-high 25 points. Liljander meanwhile added 11 points for the Yellowjackets.

The Blugolds were led by Lichtfuss with 21 points. Johnson added 16 points while Courtney Lewis had 15 and Abby Midtlien 10 for UW-Eau Claire.

Milestone Update: With four steals tonight Linzmeier became the all-time leader in that category at UW-Superior, passing Mandy Giffen (1994-99) who previously held the mark with 217. Linzmeier now has 219. She also moved into 12th on the all-time rebound list with 474. She trails No. 11 Pam Papenfuss (1981-85) by 22 rebounds. Lastly, Linzmeier moved into fourth place on the all-time list for free throws made. She has made 258. Next up on that list is Giffen, who made 317 in her career.

UW-Superior continues their recent road swing when they take on UW-Whitewater Saturday at Kachel Gym in Whitewater.  Opening tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.