by Eastern Washington women’s basketball delivered with a win in its first road game in the Big Sky, defeating Portland State 65-56 on Thursday night (Jan. 5). Eastern was behind after the first quarter, but its defense locked the Vikings down and raced ahead for the rest of the game. The Eagles are now 1-2 in the Big Sky and 8-5 overall. Portland St. is 0-2 in conference and 5-7 overall.
Jacinta Buckley was a force for Eastern in the game, scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for her second double-double this season.
“We had two quarters of lock-down defense that made the difference in the game. The team executed our defensive game plan and made the adjustments at halftime we discussed, which was huge for us,” head coach Joddie Gleason said. “Jacinta Buckley was an absolute beast at both ends of the court. She was active in their zone and made some huge buckets for us. She got rebounds and defended with urgency. Milly Knowles played a great game as well. She finished inside and played solid help-defense, as well as grabbing rebounds in a crowd.”
The game started with a 7-3 run from Portland State, but Jaydia Martin quickly silenced the momentum with three from the top of the arc. Buckley scored five points in the quarter to keep close to the Vikings, connecting from deep and getting points in the paint. Portland St. led Eastern, 16-13, after the first quarter.
The Eagles shot 41.7 percent in the quarter and the Vikings were at 40.0 percent.
Buckley scored the first four points for the Eagles in the second quarter and reduced the Portland St. lead to one. After Knowles scored inside, Jaleesa Lawrence scored a layup in fast break to give Eastern its first lead at 21-20 with 5:46 on the clock. The Vikings would take the lead back, but Martin responded again with a three for a 24-23 advantage. Martin would tack on a layup in fast break to build some separation for Eastern. At the half, the Eagles had a 29-25 lead.
In the second quarter, Eastern shot 38.9 percent and they held Portland St. to 30.8 shooting.
Knowles would go to work in the paint to start the third quarter, scoring four points. Buckley complemented Knowles with her own layups, and they extended the lead out to 39-29 with 5:37 on the clock. With Buckley and Knowles scoring inside, the Eagles were able to push their lead out to double digits in the quarter. Eastern led 45-35 at the end of three.
The shooting improved with the high-percentage shots for Eastern, as the team shot 50.0 percent in the quarter. The Vikings were limited to 30.0 shooting.
Portland St. stepped up its offense in the fourth quarter, looking to orchestrate a comeback. Buckley would match the Vikings scores to maintain the lead for the Eagles. Lawrence would deliver key scores and made her free throws in the quarter to give another option for the team. Despite the effort from Buckley, Portland St. went on an 8-0 run to cut the Eagles advantage down to six points at 54-48 with 1:23 left in the game. Jamie Loera was clutch at the free throw line down the stretch to keep the lead. Eastern held off the rally to win 65-56, shooting 50 percent in the quarter, with the Vikings also posting a 50.0 percent shooting mark.
“We were up 14 at the last media timeout and PSU really put the pressure on us, making some tough shots and putting us at the free throw line. We knocked down 11-of-12 free throws to ice the game and secure the road win,” Gleason explained.
