The UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team will begin its NCAA Division III tournament play at Zorn Arena on Friday (Mar. 4) against North Central University, a Minneapolis school that won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament by defeating Minnesota-Morris 52-47. The Blugolds assured themselves of the WIAC’s automatic bid to the national tournament Friday night by overcoming a 13-point second half deficit to overwhelm UW-Whitewater 77-63 and win their first conference tournament title since 2003. That team made it to the Final Four and finished in third place. UW-EC Athletics Director Dan Schumacher said the Blugolds' game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. Friday. It will be preceded at 5 p.m. by a matchup between Millikin and Wartburg, two at-large entries in this year's tournament. To read more, including ticket information, please click on the headline.