Molly Tumanic

Playing in their final regular season home game Saturday night against fourth-ranked UW-Stevens Point, the seniors of the UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team made sure it would be a night to remember with a 64-60 victory atZorn Arena.

Senior guard Toya Banks made two key free throws in the final 1.6 secondstoclinch the victory; she finished with 13 points.

Senior center Brooke Wozniak-Schmidt pulled down 17 rebounds, including seven offensive, and finished with 10 points.

Nursing a sore ankle, senior forward Becca Spaeth chipped in with 13 points and sixrebounds.

In a game featuring 12 lead changes and nine ties, the largest lead by either team was five points. Following a 12-2 Stevens Point run with 13 minutes, six seconds remaining, the Blugolds countered by going on a 10-2 run of their own. They regained control with a 45-42 lead.

“We wanted to switch up the tempo,” head coach Tonja Englund said, “(and always keep) changing the pace of the game.”

Leading all Blugold scorers was junior guard Joanna Leafblad, who went 4-for-8 from 3-point range to finish with 14 points.

The Blugolds (19-5, 11-4 WIAC) outmuscled the Pointers (20-3, 11-3), holding a 43-34 rebounding advantage; they picked up 14 offensive rebounds to the Pointers’ seven.

Halftime featured a tribute to the four Blugold seniors:Wozniak-Schmidt, Spaeth,Banks and Laura Tamm.Each senior received flowers and a blue and gold pillow in recognition of their efforts.

Junior Katie Murphyled the tribute, speaking to the arena about what the seniors had accomplished and meant to the team.

“It’s quite an honor to be their teammate,” Murphy said after the game.”They’ve put… so muchinto this program.”

Englund also had nothing but the highest praise for her four seniors.

“I feel so honored to have such a wonderful group of girls,” she said.

“They’ve been the rock of this organization for the past fouryears.”

The Blugolds will be in action next when they travel toUW-Platteville Tuesday night to wrap up the regular season.

Englund said the team is ready for another solid run in the postseason.

“I hope we are peaking,” she said.”We go to Platteville next, which is always a tough place to play, but we’ll be fine.”