A bye week to relax and refocus was powerful for Eau Claire’s women’s basketball team last night. Senior Heidi Arciszewski led the team in scoring and sophomore Hannah Mesick grabbed a team high nine rebounds as Eau Claire cleaned the floor in the Bo Ryan Court with the UW-Platteville Pioneers last night 60-35.

Scoring within the first 30 seconds, Eau Claire led the entire game without dropping behind – the Blugolds never even allowed the Pioneers to tie the score. The Blugold’s score shot up for the rest of the game, leaving the score at 38-21 at the half.

Mesick, who had 12 points and nine rebounds, said they hit it hard right away.

“I think we played really good defense, we held them at 35 points,” Mesick said. “We played their personnel and executed offense really well.”

Eau Claire is ranked 11th and now boasts an overall record of 20-4 on the season and 11-4 in the conference. With this win, the Blugolds were given a season sweep in the regular season series, having defeated the Pioneers previously in Zorn Arena.

Mesick said the Blugolds came out more relaxed than they should have been, but the Blugolds continued to punish the Pioneers.

“We kind of let ourselves go in the second half and we made a few bad decisions,” Mesick said.

Platteville hit only 19.6 percent of their field goals and 13.6 percent of their 3-pointers. Eau Claire on the other hand shot 41.3 percent on field goals and 28.6 percent on 3-pointers. Eau Claire did not only stomp Platteville in points but dominated the paint as well, having 52 rebounds against Platteville’s 32. The Blugolds held onto a double-digit lead for the entire second half.

Eau Claire faces its long-time rival, UW-Stout, next week in Menomonie for the final regular season game. Earlier this season, the Blugolds had a close win over the Blue Devils 73-68 in Zorn Arena. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday following the Blugold men.

– The Spectator staff