After maintaining a lead for the majority of the game, the UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team failed to come away with a conference victory against UW-River Falls Saturday night.

Sophomore Hannah Mesick said the team was lucky to be in the game for as long as it was.

“We didn’t play very well and they did better than us in a lot of aspects of the game,” Mesick said. “They got to loose balls faster, ripped rebounds and we really lost our composure at times.”

River Falls went in front soon after the tip, but Eau Claire refused to back down. Senior Heather Witt hit a three pointer to take the lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the first half. The Blugolds stayed ahead going into the break, and held a 31-25 lead at the intermission.

Although the Blugolds shot a mere 34 percent from the field in the game, they were able to hold an advantage for the first 30 minutes. Eau Claire was aided by River Falls during the first half, when the Falcons managed to shoot just 33 percent themselves.

Until the 9:48 mark in the second half, the Blugolds seemed to be in charge. From there the Falcons took the lead and didn’t think twice, outscoring Eau Claire 31-23 in the final nine minutes. River Falls’ 69-63 victory was a stunning upset in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

“I think we just need to come in ready to play and we can’t overlook anyone,” Mesick said. “They were just a lot more ready than we were today.”

Junior Jodi Lindner led the way for Eau Claire with 16 points in just 20 minutes of play. Sophomore Katie Weinberg added 12 points of her own. The Blugold’s main contributors, seniors Heather Witt and Heidi Arciszewski, along with Mesick-were held to just 26 points combined

With the loss Eau Claire is two games behind conference frontrunner UW-Stevens Point with just three conference games to go.

“We feel like we’re still in it although this was a big setback,” Mesick said. “We just have to play a lot better than we played in this game and anything can happen down the stretch if we work hard.”

Although it will be a tough road, the schedule ahead seems to favor Eau Claire. Stevens Point still has two tough conference games to go, including one against the Blugolds.

The two powerhouses will face off at 7 p.m. this Wednesday in Zorn Arena as Eau Claire will try to cut the conference deficit to just one game.

The Blugolds also defeated the University of South Dakota on Sunday afternoon in a make up game, 62-50.