On Saturday at the Time of Grace Center, the UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team lost 64-52 against the Lutheran College Warriors.
Coach Tonja Englund said this was the first time playing the Warriors in at least 20 years. She also said the team didn’t shoot the ball very well which contributed to their loss.
“We usually shoot better from the floor and so how you do that is we just have to be more consistent,” Englund said.
At the end of the first quarter, the Blugolds were down 14-5 since the Warriors finished that quarter with a 10-0 run.
The Blugolds started the second quarter with a 7-0 run but then the Warriors had an 8-0 run. In this quarter, fifth-year Kylie Mogen helped create the Blugolds run.
Englund said she plays very well defensively and Mogen said it’s something she tries to focus on.
In the third quarter, they ended with a score of 40-33 with the Warriors in the lead. In the final eight minutes, the Blugolds scored 45-42. The Warriors went on to score the next seven out of eight points.
Despite losing the game, the Blugolds did rebound more than the Warriors with the score being 48-35.
Mogen is the only fifth-year student on the team this season and is one of three seniors. Englund said these seniors have been critical in leading the team this year since they have all played in NCAA tournaments before.
After rupturing the cartilage in her knee in December last year, Mogen said she has been working on recovering, playing defensively and wants to work on her offense moving forward.
She said her dad has always pushed her in her basketball journey and helped her find a passion for it in first grade.
“The only person I can ever hear in the crowd is my dad and hearing him constantly cheering me on gets me out of the rut and makes me try harder,” Mogen said.
She said she knows that the coach will always have them defend against the other team’s best player and focuses on limiting the other player’s touches.
Mogen said one of the toughest parts of the Warriors to play against was their outside shooters. Mogen also said every loss is a learning experience for the team and going forward, the team should take pride in one another and focus on what they can control.
Englund said this is something the team has been working on this season. The Blugold game against the Warriors was away and Mogen said being on the road and playing away games back-to-back can test a player’s mental capacity.
“When you play on the road, you’ve got to find ways to win,” Englund said, “To go to Milwaukee is a three-and-a-half hour trip and that ends up being much different than just coming and playing at home.”
Their next game will be an away game against the UW-Superior Yellowjackets at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Mogen said they can’t make any mistakes with the holiday tournament and conference games coming up.
Curtin can be reached at [email protected].
