UW-Eau Claire Women's Basketball

Fast Break Club Membership

Your membership in the Fast Break Club, which boasts over 185 members and has raised over $475,000 in 15 years, will assist Blugold Women’s Basketball players by:

• Providing special opportunities to honor our players, such as senior night, post-game socials, team dinners and banquets.
• Funding of special game nights, such as Youth Night, Alumni Day and Team Night.
• Funding team room/locker room/video editing updates.
• Purchasing new athletic equipment.
• Providing special travel opportunities against nationally-ranked competition for our players such as holiday team trips.

All membership levels will receive Blugold Women’s Basketball electronic newsletter updates, exclusive Fast Break Club event invitations, recognition in a game program and a Fast Break Club membership decal. Your membership is tax deductible, minus the value of the benefits. 

A Winning Tradition 

The UW-Eau Claire Blugold Women’s Basketball program considers athletics to be an integral part of the university community and follows and honors the UW-Eau Claire institutional mission of excellence. The measure of excellence when applied to the basketball program translates to a level of performance that frequently will produce winning seasons, conference championships and the realistic opportunity to capture an NCAA Division III National Championship.

• 10 conference championships.
• 18 NCAA tournament appearances and three Final Four appearances.
• 4 WIAC tournament championships, including 2022
• 5 Blugolds earned WIAC post season honors for the 22-23 season. Jessie Ruden was awarded the Judy Kruckman Scholar Athlete Award.  WIAC 1st Team All-Conference honors were awarded to Jessie Ruden and Tyra Boettcher. Honorable Mention was awarded to Courtney Crouch while Kylie Mogen earned a spot on the All-Defensive team and Brianna Nelson was named to the All-Sportsmanship team. 
• Jessie Ruden was honored as a Josten’s National Player of the Year finalist and a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American in 2023. 
• The 22-23 team finished with a 3.73 team GPA. Fourteen of the women’s basketball players finished with a GPA above 3.5. 
• The Blugolds were receiving votes for the Final Top 25 for D3 Hoops in 22-23. The Blugolds finished 20-9 and advanced to back to back NCAA tournaments in 21-22/22-23.
• Tremendous community support: UW-Eau Claire women’s basketball team finished 2nd in the WIAC for home game attendance with nearly 6,000 fans in 13 games in 2022-23. 
• Coach Englund became UW-Eau Claire’s winningest women’s basketball coach in 2016 - and earned her 300th win in 2017, with over 396 career wins at UWEC in 23 years. She was named 2003 Russell National Coach of the Year and 2021 WIAC Coach of the Year. 
• The team is involved in volunteer work throughout the community, such as working in our youth basketball program, Eau Claire food pantries, Eau Claire Marathon, reading in the elementary schools, Special Olympics, Boys and Girls Club, speaking to service organizations and participating in numerous Student Athlete Advisory Committee functions. 
• The Blugold Girls Basketball and Leadership camps attract over 450 participants each summer as the entire coaching staff and basketball team work together to teach basketball fundamentals and leadership

Want to set up a monthly donation? 

Monthly gifts of any size make an ongoing impact on our Blugolds, and it is an easy way to budget and structure your philanthropy. Giving monthly is reliable and consistent, helping us plan better for students and provides an ongoing reminder of the ever-present impact of your gift. Simply visit our formal giving website, choose your gift amount and frequency, and we'll take care of the rest.

Do you work for a matching gift company? 

Increase the impact of your investment in UW-Eau Claire students with a matching gift from your employer. Most participating companies will match employee gifts dollar for dollar. Some will even double—or triple—match a gift! Just check with your human resources or personnel office to determine your company’s policy and pick up a matching gift form or fill it out online (procedures vary company to company). Please contact Dana Thompson at thompsod@uwec.edu or 715-836-5620 for more information about matching gifts.

Thank you for considering becoming a member of the Fast Break Club. For more information or learn about opportunities to support the program as part of the 2nd Annual Blugold Giving Week, contact Tonja Englund, head coach, at engluntj@uwec.edu or 715-836-3489.