An 11-point spurt midway through the second half helped UW-Stevens Point pull away from UW-Eau Claire for a 64-44 women's basketball triumph on Wednesday at Berg Gym.

The Pointers held a 32-20 halftime lead and maintained the lead during the early portion of the second half before the Blugolds whittled the lead down to eight points at 43-35 with 12:17 left. However, Chelsea Kranz (Columbus/Columbus) followed with a three-point play for the Pointers and UW-Eau Claire missed its next seven shots as UW-Stevens Point took control with a 54-35 advantage with 7:56 to play.

It marked the ninth straight victory by the home team in the series and UW-Stevens Point improved to 11-3 overall and 4-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Eau Claire fell to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC.

The Pointers built their first half lead due to another long Blugolds' drought as UW-Stevens Point led 12-9 with 14:27 left in the half and held UW-Eau Claire scoreless for the next 8:10. The Blugolds missed eight straight shots and had four turnovers during the stretch, though the Pointers only scored five points themselves during the span and led 17-9 before a basket by Heidi Arciszewski ended the dry spell and cut the deficit to six points.

The Pointers then got a pair of free throws from Jesirae Heuer (Wisconsin Rapids/Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln) and two inside baskets from Nathalie Lechault (Chavannes de Bogis, Switzerland/Int'l School of Geneva) to push the cushion to 12 points. Lechault had a solid night for the Pointers with 12 points and six rebounds. Janell Van Gomple (DeForest/DeForest), who had a career-high 16 points on Saturday for the Pointers, followed with a team-high 13 points and was perfect on three three-point shot attempts.

Arciszewski led the Blugolds with 13 points as UW-Eau Claire shot just 27.6 percent from the field. UW-Stevens Point shot 50.0 percent and was six-for-14 from three-point range.