Box Score

EAU CLAIRE – The 19th-ranked UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team became the first non-No. 1 seed to win the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Basketball Tournament championship with a 62-50 victory over 20th-ranked UW-Eau Claire today at Zorn Arena.

With the win, the Pointers receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The pairings for the tournament will be known Monday morning. It is the second conference tournament title in team history as they won it back in 2004. It will be the fifth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Pointers and their first since 2004.

Unlike Thursday's night game at Whitewater, the Pointers struggled from the field shooting just 1-for-7 at first media timeout. The Blugolds opened up a 7-2 lead five minutes into the game. Stevens Point cut the lead to 13-11 after back-to-back baskets by Ali Nicastro (Mondovi/Mondovi) (Sr.-Mondovi).

The Pointers came back to take the lead at 22-20 with four minutes left in the first half after a Haley Houghton (Wausau/Wausau East) (Sr.-Wausau/East) jumper. The teams then traded the lead until Stevens Point went up four with one minute left to play. The Blugolds made a basket just before the half expired as the Pointers went into halftime with a 27-25 lead.

Stevens Point shot just 37 % in the first half, but outscored the Blugolds 11-2 in second-chance points. Eau Claire shot 46 % in the half, but committed 10 turnovers.

The Pointers jumped out to a five-point lead in the second half. However, the Blugolds went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 36-35. The teams traded the lead seven times over the next five minutes. There were also three ties during that span.

Stevens Point went up for good with eight minutes left in the game on a Katie Webber (Reedsburg/Reedsburg) (Jr.-Reedsburg) layup. The Blugolds made their final field goal of the game with 4:25 left that cut the Pointer-lead to one. Stevens Point then ended the game on a 12-1 run as it went 10-for-12 from the free throw line in the final 4:07 to win by a score of 62-50.

The Pointers shot just 39 % from the field, but were 20-for-23 from the free throw line. Eau Claire shot just 40 % from the field and committed 18 turnovers.

Chelsea Kranz (Columbus/Columbus) (Sr.-Columbus) led the Pointers with 15 points, including 13 points in the second half. Haley Houghton (Wausau/Wausau East) had 13 points and seven rebounds. Jessi Sporle (Mineral Point/Mineral Point) (Jr.-Mineral Point) added 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Laura Neuenfeldt (Two Rivers/Two Rivers) (Sr.-Two Rivers) led Stevens Point with eight rebounds. Amanda Zenner had 14 points to lead the Blugolds.

The Pointers will now have to see where they land in the NCAA Tournament. The Pointers were ranked third in the central region coming into this week, but defeated the top two teams above them in the last three days. Be sure to checkout the Pointers Athletics web site for tournament information.