
The men and women’s UW-Eau Claire basketball teams took the game down to the wire on Saturday in a doubleheader against the UW-Whitewater Warhawks.
Women’s Basketball
“Since it was Senior/Alumni Day, we talked a lot about playing for pride before the game,” Blugolds coach Tonja Englund said. “We wanted to make the alumni feel at home and send the seniors out on a high note by playing our game.”
Whitewater was running neck and neck with the Eau Claire women’s team through most of the first half, but the Blugolds gradually extended their lead to as much as 12 points before ending the half with a
41-32 advantage.
“We really liked what we were doing offensively in the first half,” Englund said. “We wanted to keep our lead by taking away the middle of the court and prevent any easy lay-ups off our press in the second.”
The Warhawks came out strong in the second half as they outscored the Blugolds 13-1 in the first five minutes of the half.
After chipping away, Whitewater finally took the lead with 4:39 left to play and extended it to five points one minute later. With time winding down, the Blugolds stepped it up and fought back to tie the game at 61 with 1:12 left to play.
Only 45 seconds remained when freshman Heidi Arciszewski made a lay-up to put the Blugolds ahead for good, and the game ended 67-61 in favor of Eau Claire.
“The shot clock was winding down and I had the open look,” Arciszewski said, who lead the team with 15 points and also contributed five rebounds. “I was just hoping I could knock it down and give us the lead.”
In her last regular season home game, senior Rachel Becker led the team with 11 assists and seven rebounds.
“We were making that extra pass all game,” Englund said. “Rachel had eight assists in the first half.
“This is an entirely different team than the one in December,” she said. “It’s hard to recognize them. They’ve changed for the better in every way possible.”
Men’s Basketball
Following the thrilling victory by the women’s team, the Eau Claire men’s basketball team went up against conference champions Whitewater.
“All week we practiced crashing the boards and our transition game,” coach Terry Gibbons said. “To win a game against a team like Whitewater, we have to score off of our defense in any way we can.”
Halfway through the first half, the Blugolds found themselves trailing by seven, but a dunk by lone senior Tyler Birkel sparked an 11-0 run that gave Eau Claire a 21-17 lead.
The momentum continued to swing toward the ‘Golds when Matt Riley hit a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to put Eau Claire up 32-28 at the end of the first half.
“At halftime, I told the team to stick with the game plan,” Gibbons said. “Everything was working for us. We were making plays and continuing to apply defensive pressure.”
The Blugolds pushed their lead up to eight points two minutes into the second half, but the Warhawks fought back and took a 56-50 lead with eight minutes to go in the game.
With 32 seconds left and the shot clock pushing zero, sophomore point guard Zack Ryan drove down the lane and made a lay-up that gave the Blugolds a 65-63 lead.
“I saw that the shot clock was almost dead, so I put up a shot,” Ryan said. “Really all you can do is hope they go in.”
Whitewater managed to drain two free throws with no time left to send the game into the first overtime.
After three ties and two lead changes, the Blugolds were down 75-78 with 16 seconds left. Ryan dribbled to the left of the three-point line and threw up an unbalanced shot with three seconds on the clock to tie the game and send it into a second overtime.
“I knew that we needed a three to stay in the game, and I was really surprised when it went in,” Ryan said.
Whitewater scored first and would not give up their lead at the start of the second overtime, and the game ended 91-88 in favor of the Warhawks.
Sophomore Jared Bardon led the team with 24 points and six rebounds. Ryan had 18 points and a team leading four assists. Sophomore Dan Beyer and Junior Matt Riley had 10 points each, while Riley also led the team with nine rebounds. Birkel ended his regular-season career at Eau Claire with eight points and a rebound.
“Tyler (Birkel) is a tremendous kid,” Gibbons said. “He’s played over 100 games for me, and he truly is a hard worker, and any employer is going to want his heart and dedication.”
The Blugolds will travel to Whitewater on Tuesday for the first game of the WIAC Tournament.
“It’s very tough to beat a team three times,” Gibbons said. “We just need to play smart basketball and continue working hard to pull away with a win.”