by Eastern Washington women’s basketball had everything working on Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 20) as they defeated Utah State, 84-54. The Eagles separated early from the Aggies and cruised to a 30-point win in their final non-conference game of the season. Eastern improved to 7-3 on the season, while Utah St. fell to 3-8.
“Our team was locked-in at film and shoot around the last few days. You could see how they communicated defensively to slow down a good Utah State team that likes to run up and down the court,” head coach Joddie Gleason said. “There were situations where we knew our players would be on an island and guard them one-on-one. We executed at the defensive end very well. [Aaliyah] is a multidimensional player and can shoot it from three, pull-up and drive into the rim. She can score at all three levels. All of our starting lineup and more off the bench can come in and score. Any of them can go off any night. We try to focus on the little things and continue to get better every day. We don’t want to burn our players out. We watch how many minutes they get and try to let them recover.”
Aaliyah Alexander had a career day, scoring 21 points on 7-of-8(87.5%) shooting, going 3-of-4(75%) from three-point range. Jaleesa Lawrence scored 15 points on 6-of-8(66.7%) shooting. Jacinta Buckley set a career-high with 17 rebounds in the game.
Eastern Washington jumped out quick in the game with a 9-0 run, with Milly Knowles scoring four of the team’s points. Utah St. finally broke the run with a jump shot, but Jaleesa Lawrence came right back with a quick layup, and it was 11-2 with 5:29 on the clock. The Eagle lead swelled to 17-2 with 2:32 left in the quarter, as Lawrence continued to score effectively. Andie Zylak and Aaliyah Alexander connected from three to keep the lead growing. After the first quarter, Eastern led the Aggies 23-4.
The Eagles shot 52.6 percent in the opening 10 minutes, while Utah St. was held to 11.8 percent.
Starting the second quarter, Utah St. had an 8-3 stretch to seemingly get the game back in striking distance. Jaydia Martin changed the thinking quickly with a long three-pointer. Camille Jentzsch found room in the paint and scored two layups to bring the Eastern lead to 34-14 at 4:52 on the clock. A three from Gabrielle Jung would extend the lead to 38-16 minutes later. Alexis Pettis would close out the first half with five-straight points for a 43-18 Eagle lead.
Eastern shot 38.9 percent in the quarter and Utah State was at 31.3 percent.
The Eagles came out firing in the third quarter, going on a 13-2 run. Alexander was scorching with eight points in the run. Eastern was up 56-22 at the 6:50 mark in the quarter. The lead continued to balloon for the Eagles as Lawrence found her jump shot. At 2:10, the Eastern lead was 68-32. After three, the Eagles led 68-38.
In the third quarter, Eastern shot a hot 66.7 percent from the floor. The Aggies shot 40.0 in the quarter.
Moving to fourth quarter, the Eagles looked to cruise through the final 10 minutes and close out Utah St. The Aggies had a different idea, opening with an 8-2 run. Lawrence would halt the run with a made three. Martin would take the ball inside and score a layup to give Eastern a 75-50 lead with 5:01 left in the game. The game finished with an Eastern win, 84-54, after shooting 27.3 percent in the quarter. Utah St. shot 26.3 in the final quarter.
The Eagles had a 47.8 shooting percentage in the game, and they limited the Aggies to 26.9 percent.
