Eagles hold on to beat UW-Eau Claire 57-54

Box Score

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- The Northwestern College women's basketball team persevered for 40 minutes on Friday night to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 57-54. The Eagles held the Blugolds scoreless for the final two minutes of the game to hand host-Eau Claire a loss in the opening round of their early-season tournament.

Northwestern played smart throughout the entire contest, yielding only nine turnovers while forcing the Blugolds to commit 17 mistakes. The Eagles not only caused commotion on the Eau Claire bench by forcing turnovers, but also by scoring 15 points on their opponents' errors.

Neither of the two teams could maintain a consistent advantage on the scoreboard in the game, as the lead changed hands 14 times to go with nine ties. Northwestern's largest lead of the game (seven points) came just seven minutes into the first period.

Katie DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) scored a game-high 18 points while dishing out five assists to pace the Eagles. Megan Myhre (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) (Barnum, Minn./Barnum) added 12 points off the bench for Northwestern, who outscored Eau Claire by a 34-18 margin in the paint. Allison Johnson (Plymouth, Minn./Heritage Christian) (Greenfield, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) led the Eagles with seven rebounds.

The Blugolds had four players hit double figures, including Hanna Mesick and Leah Rembert, who each scored 12 points. Mesick was just one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing the game with nine boards.

The Eagles, now 3-2 on the season, will return to Zorn Arena to play in the tournament championship game versus the University of Dubuque on Saturday at 8 p.m.

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