The UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball quickly got down to business defeating  Cornell College (Iowa) on Saturday 63-35 at Zorn Arena.

Eau Claire established a lead on a 13-0 lead early in the first half. The team kept on running to close the first half with a 31-12 lead. The second half  opened up a 29-point lead and Cornell wouldn’t get back into the game.

Senior forward Callie Halama said it’s almost a habit to relax once the team opens up a large lead, but the team has to stay focused.

“When we had the lead we should keep growing it as much as we can,” Halama said. “It was nice for the freshmen to get in and for them to get playing time, so they could get experience too.”

Senior Jess Freagon said the team saw success against Cornell because they ran their offense well, executed their plays, and focused on rebounding, which had been a negative point of the team’s previous game, a 59-50 loss at Minnesota State-Mankato.

Halama spoke similarly to Freagon that the team’s execution of their offense contributed to their success against Cornell. “This was one of the first games where we executed our plays really nicely and scored off of almost all of them,” Halama said.

Halama led the team in scoring with 12 points, and she credits the guards for her success.

“The guards did a really good job of getting the ball inside to the post,” Halama said. “It’s easy to score when the guards make a good pass.”

The team has ten freshmen this year and Halama and Freagon both said  it was good for them to get experience in a lopsided win like the one against Cornell. Halama said the beginning of the year is hard, with freshmen learning the plays and establishing a comfort level.

“Some of the freshmen are getting playing time, which is really great for them,” Halama said. “They should feel comfortable with us and not feel intimidated by us, we want the whole team aspect, where everyone feels comfortable with each other.”

Freagon said the freshmen have done a good job learning and getting into the team’s system. “We’ve actually had a lot contribute so far, so they’re really proving themselves,” Freagon said.

Freagon and Halama both said while they’d like to win conference, the team didn’t set one large goal for the year.

“We haven’t sat down and set a big goal,” said Freagon. “We’ve set little goals along the way, so this week we’ll be preparing for La Crosse and getting that win.”

Eau Claire begins conference play on Saturday when they travel to La Crosse to take on the UW-La Crosse Eagles.