by Another 40-minute battle for the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team came up just short at the Husky Classic today (Dec.19), where the Eagles lost to Nevada 71-60 in Seattle, Wash. The game itself had eight lead changes plus a tie, and Eastern had a 49-48 lead heading into the fourth. However, in the final frame, EWU was outscored 23-11 which was the difference in this afternoon’s loss.
We are disappointed to come out of the weekend 0-2. It was a challenge to play this experienced, physical and scrappy Nevada game after going to the wire with UW yesterday. Hopefully we can draw on this experience of playing back-to-back when we go to the Big Sky Tournament in March, said head coach Joddie Gleason. “Our players responded well after being down at halftime to start the fourth with the lead. We had too many defensive missteps and Nevada made us pay with big buckets down the stretch. We need to tip our hat to Nevada as they disrupted our offensive flow and prevented us from getting many open looks from the perimeter. Their defense was solid.”
After today’s result, Eastern is now 2-7 (0-1 Big Sky) on the year while Nevada wins its eighth-straight game to improve to 8-3. Jaydia Martin was the lone Eagle in double figures, leading the way with 18 points.
The first quarter saw four lead changes as both sides settled in. Eastern Washington led by as many as four, 12-8, after a Jacinta Buckley (Spokane Tribe), three-pointer. From there, Nevada used a 9-0 run to retake a 17-12 lead, and led 17-13 heading into the second quarter.
Nevada built a lead of 21-15 to start the second, and the Eagles cut the deficit to one point on two separate occasions. Eastern closed in and made it a two-point game, 26-24, but the Wolf Pack pulled back ahead for the largest lead of the game, 31-24. At the half, Nevada led 33-26.
Eastern Washington outscored Nevada 23-15 in the third quarter and slowly chipped away at its deficit. Four-straight points from Andie Zylak and Milly Knowles cut the lead to 33-30 to open the quarter. Every time Eastern would close in on the Wolf Pack, Nevada would find a way to respond. Buckley made a layup and cut Nevada’s lead to 40-39, but the Wolf Pack pulled back ahead 44-39. Eastern finally got the break it was working for when Jaleesa Lawrence made it a two-point game, and then Martin scored five-straight points to give Eastern Washington its first lead since the first quarter, 47-46 that stretched to 49-46. Nevada made a layup with 11 seconds left, but Eastern held the 49-48 lead heading into the final frame.
With 7:29 left to play, Nevada retook a 51-49 lead. Martin’s third triple of the day put the lead right back into Eastern’s hands, but the Wolf Pack instantly responded with an 13-1 run and the lead stretched to 64-53 with 4:06 left to play. In the end, the Eagles were outscored 23-11 in the fourth quarter and lost 71-60 despite keeping Nevada without a field goal for the final 4:22 of the game.
TOP PERFORMANCES:
Milly Knowles followed with eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. She added three rebounds, plus a block and a steal. Jacinta Buckley finished with nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Andie Zylak dished five assists and Jaleesa Lawrence scored seven points, plus had four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
KEY STATISTICS: Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field, with Nevada shooting 38.6 percent (22-57) and EWU shooting 31 percent (18-58). Behind the arc, EWU was 6-of-25 (24%) and Nevada shot 29.4 percent (5-17). Both teams fared well at the free throw line, but the Wolf Pack had the edge with an 84.6 percent outing (22-26) and Eastern Washington made 18-of-24 (75%).
Eastern Washington had 15 second-chance points compared to five for the Wolf Pack, but were out-rebounded 42-to-32. Each team had 17 points off of turnovers, with EWU committing 16 and Nevada committing 17. Eleven of Eastern’s 18 field goals were assisted.
