Greetings from Zorn Arena

I've settled in courtside at Zorn Arena on the UW-Eau Claire campus, ready to bring you live updates on the women's college basketball game between No. 20 UW-Eau Claire (2-0) and North Park University (Ill.) (0-2). It'll be the second game of the 16th annual Thanksgiving Showcase. Right now, the University of Chicago is absolutely taking it to Edgewood College, 62-38, with roughly 6 minutes to play. The winner of the Blugolds-Vikings game will get the University of Chicago in the championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday. The loser plays Edgewood at 6 p.m. that day. All games are here at Zorn.

Tipoff is about half an hour away, so here are a few pregame notes to hold you until then.
*The Blugolds have won the Showcase three years in a row. They beat Morningside College (Iowa) 74-65 in last year's championship game.
*Here's some further information on North Park, which the Blugolds never have played before.
-North Park is a NCAA Division III school located in Chicago and has an enrollment of 3,100.
-The Vikings hail from the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).
-They're 0-2 so far this season, and neither game has been close. They lost to Concordia 82-42 before losing to Edgewood 77-43. Remember that Edgewood is getting ripped by the University of Chicago, for whatever that's worth.
-Their coach is Jack Surridge, who is in his 12th season.
-The Vikings only have nine players listed on their roster -- two seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and four freshmen.

I'll check back in periodically throughout tonight's contest. Hopefully, everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and stress-free Black Friday.

-Justin Harings