Small Town News

Eastern women win coveted Big Sky crown

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When the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team was handed the Big Sky Conference regular season championship last Friday it was a little like as a kid when you got a weekly allowance for doing routine chores.

After Idaho State beat Sacramento State 69-67 on March 5, the loss clinched first place for the Eagles and eliminated the Hornets from the title chase.

So Saturday afternoon, and not wanting to ease into the crown, the Eagles went out and officially earned theif title, beating Portland State 78-68 at Reese Court in the conference finale.

In the process, Eastern earned their long awaited first real payday, plus the bonus of hosting the BSC conference tournament. It's a quest nearly 30 years in the making, ever since Eastern elevated itself to NCAA Division I status in the early 1980s.

The Eagles completed the regular season with a 19-10 overall record and 12-4 finish in conference play. With the win, the Eagles improved their home record to 12-2 and they play Friday night at 6 p.m. against the lowest remaining seed out of today's quarter-final round. The winner earns an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

The tournament gets underway at 3:30 p.m. today when No. 6 seed Montana State (16-13, 9-7 BSC) takes on third-seeded Sacramento State (15-14, 10-6 BSC). At 6 p.m., fifth-seeded Portland State (15-14, 9-7 BSC) meets No. 4 seed Idaho State (15-14, 10-6 BSC).

On a day dedicated to the final regular season game for Eastern seniors Jessica Huntington and Nicole Scott, junior Julie Piper scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds and sophomore Chene Cooper came off the bench scoring 19 points, 13 in the second half. Kyla Evans was the only other Eagle in double figures with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, including 3-for-3 from beyond the 3-point line.

Eastern was in control of this one most all afternoon. Portland State had their moments, but the Eagles had an answer every time. The Vikings lead briefly, early in the first half, 11-8 with 13:31 to play.

But fueled in part by Evans' deep 3-pointer from the left side, plus a series of Vikings' turnovers. Eastern went on a 9-0 run - the first of three they'd make in the half - that would put them up 38-26 at the break as Brianne Ryan's lay up fell at the buzzer.

Portland State spent the first half mysteriously dormant from long-range, shooting just 9 percent from 3-point range. But that dry spell ended quickly as the second half began.

"At halftime when we looked at the stat sheet and Portland State was shooting 9 percent from the 3 (point line)," head coach Wendy Schuller said, "I told the team there's a reason stats are there and percentages always catch up with themselves. I said they're not shooting 9 percent again this half, just understand that."

Schuller was very much correct.

PSU's Eryn Jones and Claire Faucher each drained 3s in the first two minutes of the second half, part of a 10-2 run for the Vikings that trimmed Eastern's lead to 40-36 with 3:05 gone. Faucher and Lexi Bishop would connect on back-to-back 3s to tie it at 42-42 with 15:05 left.

Seconds later, a media time out allowed Eastern to get some first aid for their wounds.

"I don't think we responded great right off the bat," Schuller said. "We got into a media time out with about 16 or 15 (minutes) to go and the game was about even."

Pondering the fact that her team had just squandered a big lead they had worked so hard to establish, Schuller used the time out to send a simple message.

"I told the team, Portland State had their run," she said. "There's their run, now it's our turn."

The Eagles - particularly Cooper - responded immediately. In the span of 23 seconds Cooper, the diminutive 5-foot guard, dropped in a 3-pointer to break the tie and then sunk a pair of free throws for a 47-42 Eastern lead. The Eagles would go ahead by 11 at 58-17 with 8:42 to go.

Portland State would not go easily as an 8-0 run trimmed the Eastern lead to three, 58-55, with 5:15 remaining. Butv Scott went out in a memorable way hitting key baskets 1:30 apart to put her team back up by seven. Her second field goal with 3:48 left earned the Carson City, Nev. native her milestone 1,000th career point as an Eagle. Then Evans' 3 gave Eastern a 10-point lead with 2:38 to go.

PSU made one more late run, capped by Faucher's free throws that got the Vikings dangerously close at 72-68 with 1:13 to play. However this time it was Cooper who answered with four straight perfect all-net free throws. Fittingly, Huntington got her one point in the game with 29.4 seconds to play as her free throw added to the margin.

"We turned it up defensively," Schuller said. "We have such a nice bench. Whatever we need we can call someone off the bench who will give us that," noting the contributions both in the game and on the season from the likes of junior Tatjana Sparavalo and sophomores like Brianne Ryan, Breauna Russell and Carrie Ojeda.

Looking at the tournament,

Schuller said, "There's been a tremendous amount of parity throughout the year. Even teams that aren't here at the conference tournament are very capable of beating teams, all of us that are here," she said.

Schuller said she's certain her girls know how tough this tournament will be. "I think we have a pretty good chance of playing somebody that's already beaten us before. And so you can't rest on your laurels."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaneu@cheneufreepress.ccnn.



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