The UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team completed its three-game road trip with a 62-50 victory over the University of South Dakota at the Dakota Dome this afternoon.

The Blugolds improve to 19-3 on the season. On Wednesday Eau Claire defeated UW-Oshkosh 61-55 but lost a heartbreaker at UW-River Falls yesterday 69-63, finishing the three-game road trip 2-1. South Dakota, which is transitioning to NCAA Division I and was Division II’s national runner-up a season ago, drops to 13-7.

It took the Blugolds a while to get into a rhythm, allowing the Coyotes to lead for the first 11 minutes of the contest. While Eau Claire never let them get up by more than five in that span, it was not until the three-minute mark when the Blugolds took the lead for good. The Blugolds outscored the Coyotes 16-9 in the final 12 minutes of the half to take a 24-21 lead into the intermission.

The second half was much different and Eau Claire kept increasing the gap between the two teams. South Dakota got within two points less than a minute into the half but the Blugolds eventually climbed to their first double-digit lead of 10 points with nine minutes to go. South Dakota was able to get the lead back down to six but the Blugolds were able to turn it back up a notch and proceeded to defeat the Coyotes by 12.

Three Blugolds reached double-figures, led by 14 points apiece for Heidi Arciszewski (Sr.-Thorp, Wis.) and Hannah Mesick (So.-Chatfield, Minn.). Heather Witt (Sr.-Kendall, Wis./Royall) added 12 points behind her 5-for-9 (55.5 percent) shooting from the floor. As a team the Blugolds shot just 42.3 percent but edged South Dakota’s 32.7 percent.

Both Mesick and Jodi Lindner (Jr.-Neillsville, Wis.) led the team with eight rebounds while Lindner also finished with a game-high four assists. South Dakota’s Bridget Yoerger led the game with nine rebounds but the Blugolds out-rebounded the Coyotes 37-31.

Yoerger also led the game with 16 points. Annie Roche contributed 14 points for South Dakota while Kara Iverson finished with a career-high 13 points and six rebounds.

The Blugolds will be back at Zorn Arena Wednesday for a game against conference front-runner UW-Stevens Point. The game will be senior night and a WBCA Pink Zone event, an initiative to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.